


Life Leads to This

by customarycreate



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, Harry Potter Time Travel, Next Generation Time Travel, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Time Travel, time travel harry potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-22 20:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/customarycreate/pseuds/customarycreate
Summary: James Sirius Potter was a prankster (with a name like that how could you not be?) but he never meant for it to go this far. Now, his family is stuck in 1995. He really shouldn't have picked up that stupid amulet. If only they could find a way back before Voldemort heard there were three more Potters in town.Time Travel with a Plot. Next Gen travel back and are involved in the actual story.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter & Harry Potter & James Sirius Potter & Lily Luna Potter & Ginny Weasley, Albus Severus Potter & James Sirius Potter & Lily Luna Potter, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley, Teddy Lupin/Victoire Weasley
Comments: 36
Kudos: 152





	1. Pranks Sometimes Go Too Far (in time)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James gets bored on the holidays, and bad things happen when he gets bored...

A family without a few pranksters or jokers must be incredibly boring. No one to brighten your day with a joke or funny story? No one to make life interesting by catching you off guard? I’d hate to be in a family like that. I’ve heard stories of my relatives, the Dursley’s, and I don’t think I could survive with them. Luckily, I don’t have to, for I am the joker/ prankster in my family. Honestly, I do everyone a favour. If it weren’t for me, we’d have such a boring life.

Well, maybe not. After all, we are Potters and Weasleys.

I’m James Potter, named after my grandad of course. Generally, people in my family don’t usually trust me, but not in a bad way. I’m just too well known for my pranks. What would you expect; I’m related to not only the Marauders but also the Weasley Twins. You can’t deny human nature. I’m not alone in this either, my cousins share my biological need for mischief.

Fredrick ‘Fred’ Weasley II is one half of the next generation Weasley Twins, his other half being Roxanne. He’s the son of George Weasley, who was part of the original Weasley Twins. He joins me in all my pranks and is my partner-in-crime. Him and I are in the same year, Sixth Year, and are both Gryffindor’s of course, so we wreak havoc wherever we go.

Roxanne Weasley, twin to Fred, joins us on our adventures. Usually, she doesn’t really want to join us, but we force her to. She comes with us to make sure we don’t get into any trouble, and to get us out of that trouble if we do get caught. She’s smart, taking after her mother a lot. However, she does have a taste for mischief that often gets her into trouble too. (She is the daughter of George Weasley after all)

Louis Weasley is the final piece to our group. He’s quite devious at times, getting away with things due to his eighth part Veela genetics. They’re not as strong as his mother’s, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. He’s saved us from trouble more times than I can count, just by batting his eyelids and smiling those pearly whites. He’s all sweet and charming when he wants to be but is quite the opposite when you get to know him better. He’s a year younger than the twins and I, but that doesn’t stop us from making the best pranks ever. He’s also a Slytherin, which is perfect when we want to infiltrate the dungeon common room to pull pranks on his less than friendly house mates.

The four of us always join together on pranks and general mischief making. We dedicated our lives to continuing the work of the original Marauders, who inspired our Uncles (and Dad) to start their work of mischief.

And this is the start of the weirdest few weeks of our lives.

…

Grandma and Grandad Weasley organise a family dinner every month. It’s always a big event, but this month Charlie was coming back home for his week leave from work. This meant everyone’s excitement level reached max, especially us kids, as we always get presents whenever Charlie is in town. Grimauld Place burst with life and laughter as we anxiously and patiently awaited the arrival of the second oldest Weasley child.

Oh, before I forget to mention it, there’s this small detail called Scorpius Malfoy I have to address.

You see, Malfoy and my brother, Albus, became quite the good friends when they both landed themselves in Ravenclaw. And Grandma Weasley absolutely adores the sweet, polite boy that somehow is related to the absolute scum of the Malfoy Family.

Not everyone agreed to this budding friendship, but Scorpius is really nice, and so I guess we put up with him. Ron wasn’t too happy when Rose started hanging out with him as well.

I bet he’ll be furious when he finds out they’re dating.

So, occasionally, Malfoy joins us in Weasley Family events, such as this one.

Our family is used to living in each other’s pockets, how could you not when you have over ten cousins. We crammed into the living room, silently thanking Merlin that it at least held us all comfortably, and waited for Charlie. The anticipation rose with each second, especially in the younger kids; Lily, Hugo and Lucy.

However, there’s not much to do when you’re simply waiting for someone.

Bored, I tuned into the conversation that the adults were having.

“Where did you put it?” Mum asked, worried. _That’s weird,_ I thought. Mum’s not usually known to be worried.

“I’ve kept it in the attic until I can look at it more closely.” Dad replied. “I’ve told the kids to never go up there, so hopefully there won’t be any chance for them to even see it, let alone be affected by it.”

Mum crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “I want it out of the house as soon as possible, do you hear me Harry Potter? I don’t want them interacting with some unknown and potentially dangerous object.”

Dad smiled back at her, placing a caring arm on her shoulder. “Of course, darling.”

My attention drifted to what could be in the attic. ‘Unknown and potentially dangerous’? That’s just my style. What would my parents not want us to know about? What had Dad found that could be of so much importance? I started constructing a plan in my head, a chance to sneak up to the attic to see what my parents had talked about.

Just as I was mulling over the unknown item, Lily bumped my shoulder. “Why so serious?” She asked, a cheeky grin on her face.

I smiled back at her. “Well, you should know that my middle name is Sirius.”

She rolled her eyes. “Really Jamie, that’s the best you could do?”

Lily was my younger sister. She was the only one who could ever get away with calling me Jamie. We were quite close, I would do anything for her, and she knew it.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, acting offended. She knew I didn’t mean it though and punched me in the gut. “Oi!” I yelled, though I laughed through it. “Are you excited about Uncle Charlie coming?”

“Of course!” She said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “He brings the best presents. Last time I got my very own golden snitch!” Lily was a serious quidditch fanatic. She took after mum in that department. However, her seeker skills came straight from our dad. Lily had the makings of an amazing seeker, truly one of the best I’d ever seen.

“You better be practising with it! I need you on the Gryffindor Quidditch team so we can win the house cup again!” She smiled brightly.

“What is this, a super-secret Potter meeting?” Al pushed through both of us to sit between us. “Did I somehow miss the memo?”

Lily smiled sweetly at him. “You didn’t miss it silly, you weren’t invited!”

Al gasped and placed a hand over his chest. “I am deeply offended. I thought I was your favourite brother!”

“Ha, you wish!” I smirked. “Obviously I am the favourite brother. Otherwise you would have been in this super-secret Potter meeting.”

“Girls, girls,” Lily said condescendingly, placing a hand on both of our shoulders. “You’re both pretty! Stop fighting.”

Out of the corner of my eye I could see mum and dad smiling at us, humoured by our antics. I looked back to my siblings. I would do anything for them. My mind took me back to a memory of when Lily was born.

_“James, would you like to meet your sister?” I looked up at dad, eagerly nodding my head. I leaned over the crib, having to step on my toes to reach the barrier._

_Laying on the small bed was an equally small baby. She had tuffs of red hair sticking up all over the place, and a dotting of freckles over her nose. Her eyes were closed, she was sleeping. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen._

_“Hello little Lily.” I smiled down at her. “My name’s Jamie, I’m your oldest brother!” The baby let out a small cry. “Oh, don’t cry. As long as I’m around, nothing can hurt you.”_

Just as I was pulled from the memory, the door burst open, and Charlie walked through. “Hello family!” The family surrounded him, bringing him into a huge bear hug. “Alright, alright,” he laughed, “No need to bring me to my grave just yet.”

“It’s good to see you Charlie.” Grandma Weasley said, with a smile so wide I was surprised her mouth wasn’t hurting.

George shouldered his older brother. “Yeah, I was wondering if you’d ever get away from all your dragon girlfriends.”

“Ha ha,” Charlie rolled his eyes. “Very funny George.” He turned to us kids, bringing forward a huge sack. “Now who wants presents?”

…

“Now kids, I want you to be on your best behaviour okay? I don’t want to hear from Teddy or Victoire that you’ve somehow flown yourselves all the way to Australia or something.” Mum waved her hand around, a smile on her face as she thought about that situation. “However, it would be nice to finally have some piece and quiet in this house for once.”

“Ha ha Mum.” I deadpanned, a small smile on my face nonetheless. “Careful what you wish for, with our luck we could end up in the middle of Earth’s core.”

She nodded her head while rolling her eyes. “Sure James, just take care of your younger siblings okay?”

I laughed. “You’d think you were going away to Mars with how you’re talking.” For a moment I became serious. “Of course, I will.”

She leaned down and gave me a peck on the cheek. She turned and did the same to Al and Lily. “See you a little later kids!” And then she was out the door. Dad gave us a quick nod before he too was out the door.

It wasn’t often all the adults of the Weasley family got together without their kids, and so they took advantage of this opportunity and left their children in the care of Teddy and Victoire Lupin, (also unofficially with Molly Weasley II and Dominique). The couple was more than happy to take care of the rather rambunctious group of people that had been spawned from the disastrous combination of Weasleys, Potters and Malfoys (if you can’t hear the sarcasm in that sentence, something’s wrong with you).

It’s not that we’re particularly bad, it’s just…

Yeah, we’re bad. 

So, as a favour to Teddy and Victoire, all us kids decided that we were going to be the best behaved we’ve ever been. Except for…

“So, what prank are we pulling tonight boys?” Roxanne asked as she jumped down on my bed, having just said goodbye to her father and mother as they too left with the Weasley siblings and co.

“Don’t know yet,” I answered, then look at her with a frown. “Get off my bed!” I shouted, shoving her to the ground and jumping onto the bed with a victorious grin.

However, my victory was short lived. I gasped as I too was pushed to the ground. Damnit, I forgot about Fred. “Hey, you can’t push my sister around, that’s my job!” He stood on my bed, ready to jump.

As I was laying on top of Roxanne, I couldn’t escape before he did jump, landing right on top of the both of us. “Oh my gosh, Fred!” We both shouted as he laughed.

“I win!” He exclaimed as he leapt off us.

“Oh really?” We turned behind us to see a smirking Louis Weasley lounging on top of my bed. “Because I do believe that it is I who won.”

We all laughed before settling ourselves down onto my bed.

“I repeat Roxanne’s question, what prank are we pulling today?” Fred asked. 

I smirked back at him. “Well, I’m not so sure about a prank, but how about the hunt for an unknown, possibly dangerous magical item that’s hidden in the upstairs attic?”

Immediately, Roxanne had raised her eyebrows. “Dangerous magical item? I’m not so sure James. Also, didn’t your dad say never to go up to the attic?”

I shrugged. Roxanne was the most responsible out of our little group, of course she would object to this. “It can’t be too bad if its in the house, and that rule was imposed when we were tiny little kids. We are almost of age now, I’m sure that qualifies us to have a peek into the attic.”

“I for one think it’s a great idea!” Fred smiled enthusiastically. “But how are we going to pull it off?”

“Well…” I started. “The adults are gone out of the house, so we don’t have to deal with them. The only people who would stop us are Teddy, Victoire, Molly and Dominique. Al, Rose and Scorpius might also hinder us, but not as much as the older ones. And although Lily would tattle on us, Hugo wouldn’t, and Lucy would want to actually join us.” I shrugged, “And anyway, no one even goes near the attic, we’ll be able to sneak in and sneak out without a second glance thrown to us.”

Roxanne pursed her lips. “I’m still not so sure.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on Roxie, tonight’s going to be boring if we don’t do this. Have a little fun occasionally!”

She thought for a second. “Oh, alright! But if something bad happens I’m not taking the blame!”

…

“Quickly, quickly!” Roxanne hushed. The other three of us giggled as I lead them up the long staircase that leads to the attic. “Don’t get us caught now.”

“Come off it Roxanne,” scoffed Fred. “Like James said, no one comes near here anyway.”

I laughed, “Quite right, dear cousin of mine. No one will see us, trust me.” 

If only I had been right. If only I had seen the red head who was peeking around the corner. If only I had been more cautious.

This is where everything went to hell.

…

“Wow James check this out!” In Fred’s hands was an old amulet, coloured red, purple and green. It glowed ominously as he twirled it between his fingers. “Do you think this is what Uncle Harry was talking about?”

I narrowed my eyes and frowned. “Maybe. I’m honestly not too sure.” I looked down at what was in my own hands, an amulet that looked almost identical to the one Fred had. “Hey look at this!” I shouted. All three of my cousins crowded around me as I held the amulet up. “It looks just like the other one.” We looked at both closely, realising they were in fact two halves of a whole.

Louis looked up, curiosity brimming in his eyes. “Do you think…?”

Fred and I looked to each other, hesitating before bringing both halves together, almost touching…

“Fred, Roxanne and Louis Weasley! James Potter! What do you think you are doing?” We all scampered back from the entrance to the attic as one furious Teddy Lupin emerged, his wife Victoire following along with Molly and Dominique.

“Hi Ted, my favourite cousin-in-law.” I laughed nervously, hiding the amulet behind my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fred do the same to his half.

“Do you know how dangerous this is? Why do you think Harry told you never to go in here? It wasn’t just some stupid rule, there is some serious dark magic in this room.” Victoire put her hand on his shoulder, calming him slightly. He sighed. “Just, come back down before you get yourselves into any trouble.”

Echoing through the room came a voice. “Hey, what’s going on in here?” I winced as I heard the voice of my younger sister. She entered the room with Hugo and Lucy, who tagged along behind the two of them, scared of the room her Uncle had told her never to go into. “Wow, James you know you’re not supposed to be in here.” Lily said, her eyes wide.

I sighed. “I know Lily.”

“Why is everyone huddled around the door?” I groaned as my brother came in with Rose and Scorpius. “James, you know you’re not supposed to go into the attic.”

I stared at him straight on. “Really? I didn’t realise.”

He frowned at my obvious use of sarcasm. “Then why did you come in here genius?”

“Does it matter?” Teddy almost all but shouted. “Everybody, everybody out now. I am not going to let something happen to you while you are under my care.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Oh, come on Teddy, what’s the worse that could happen? Everyone knows that when my father first moved in here he made sure the house was perfectly safe.”

“Um, guys?” Fred asked timidly, but we all ignored him.

Teddy scowled. “Yes, everything but the attic. There are _centuries_ of dark magical artefacts in this room, he hasn’t had time to scour through it all.”

“Guys?” He asked a bit louder but was still ignored.

Victoire sighed. “Just, everyone, go back downstairs.”

“Guys!” He shouted.

“What?” We shouted back

He pulled up his arm, the one with the amulet, and my arm followed. Confused, I looked to both the amulets, and to my horror, I saw that they were connected.

I tried to pull my half away, but they were glued shut together. I bit my lip as the two amulets started to glow a deep black, pulsating and growing each second.

“Everyone, get back!” Teddy shouted, his wand in his hand.

I shut my eyes as the black overtook my vision and covered all of us in darkness.

I felt a terrible feeling in my gut, as though it was being rearranged and torn apart all at the same time. The feeling grew stronger, the pain intensifying. Before I knew it, I was screaming, and joining me was a harmony of voices from my family. My hand felt like it was being burned, and I longed to pull it to my chest and cradle it, but it was stuck tight to the amulet. I cursed in my head. The air around me felt thin, as I was lifted into the air and then smacked down to the earth again.

I groaned as I pushed myself off the floor, only to gasp as my hand radiated pain. I pulled it close to me, taking a good look at it. It was red and raw, as if I had stuck it onto a stove top, but other than that it was fine.

Looking around, I saw my family lying on the ground of the attic also. They all also groaned as they sat up, Fred wincing as his own hand was also red from holding onto the amulet. The attic felt a lot smaller than before, and I realised with a start that many other items had suddenly appeared where they weren’t before. The dread in my stomach grew.

“Jamie, are you okay?” A hesitant voice broke through the silence, calling me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to look at my sister, her worried face staring straight into mine. Her eyes widened. “You’re crying Jamie.”

I lifted my good hand to my face and noticed that yes, I was in fact, crying. Tears were steadily dripping down my face onto my shirt. Lily reached her hand out, stopping just short of my face before continuing and brushing a tear away. “What’s wrong?”

My voice got stuck in my throat, a choking sound making its way up instead. “H-hurts.” I lifted my hand to show her. She gasped as she caught sight of it.

“Jamie, we need to get you healed right away!” She frantically looked around the room.

I grabbed her arm to settle her. “Fred’s hurt as well.” She whirled around to see Roxanne looking at Fred’s own hand, blistering and burning the same as mine.

Lily started breathing heavier. “Jamie, I don’t know what’s happening, I don’t know where we are.”

“Hey, hey, hey. No need to panic.” That was Teddy, his voice calming her down instantly. That’s right, Teddy! He’ll know what to do.

He made his way over to Fred and me, silently asking us to show him our hands. We did, not wanting to make this situation any worse. He waved over Victoire, who kneeled beside him and gingerly took our hands into her own. We winced as she made contact, willing ourselves not to cry out. “Sorry boys.” She whispered, as she turned our hands over. Everyone else was silent as she continued her evaluation. “They just look like they’ve been burnt. Nothing too serious. We’ll need to get some salve on them soon to ease the pain, and hopefully heal the skin.” She then stood up and turned to Teddy. “Do you know where we are?”

He bit his lip, turning around and looking over every inch of the place. “It looks exactly like the attic of Grimauld Place, just dirtier and with more clutter.” He took out his wand and moved to the attic entrance. Opening it, he must have not seen anything suspicious as he waved at us to follow him.

Al helped me stand up, looking at me with worried green eyes. “Do you know what’s happening?” He whispered to me gently.

“No idea,” I shook my head, cradling my hand closer to my body. It didn’t hurt as much anymore, just a stinging pain now.

Lily buried her head into my side, and I could feel her anxious breaths against my clothes. “I’m scared Jamie.”

I gulped. “It’s going to be okay.”

We followed Teddy out the door of the attic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Thank you for tuning in to read this story, it's actually been in the works for six years now! I've rewritten and rewritten so many times so I hope you enjoy this final project!  
> Here are the ages of the characters (please note that the ages are correct to their year at Hogwarts. For example, James is in Sixth Year with Fred and Roxanne even though he's almost a full year older than them because he was born after September 2003 and there were born before September 2004).  
> Teddy Lupin: 22  
> Victoire Lupin: 20  
> Molly Weasley:18 (turning 19)  
> Dominque: 18  
> James Potter: 16 (turning 17) Sixth Year  
> Fred and Roxanne Weasley: 15 (turning 16) Sixth Year  
> Louis Weasley: 15 (turning 16) Fifth Year  
> Scorpius Weasley: 15 (turning 16) Fifth Year  
> Rose Weasley: 15 Fifth Year  
> Albus Potter: 15 Fifth Year  
> Lily Potter: 13 Third Year  
> Hugo Weasley: 13 Third Year  
> Lucy Weasley: 11 (turning 12) First Year


	2. Introductions are in order...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some introductions and revelations.

My immediate thought upon stepping through the attic door was, _this place looks horrible,_ because, well, it did.

It was Grimauld Place, no doubt about that, but it looked so different to our Grimauld Place, our home, that it could barely even be called a home anymore. We passed by my room, and the door was so filthy that I barely even recognized it. The floors creaked beneath out feet, casting an eerie spell amongst us.

Walking along the corridor, I could hear the anxious breaths of all my cousins. I gulped, I was the one who got us into this mess. I was the one stupid enough to go into the attic. Sighing, I brought my hand (my good hand) up to my forehead to rub at the skin.

Lily looked up at me and took my hand into her own. “This place looks like home,” She turned around to glance at our surroundings. “but it looks so old and dirty.”

“I’m not sure of what is happening,” I admitted, biting my lip. “but I promise I will not let anything bad happen to you,” I turned to Al, who was walking close to my side. “either of you.” He nodded his head, looking down before looking back in front of him.

We continued down the hallway until we reached what would be the dining room. From this side of the door, we could hear voices. Teddy stood in front of us all, wand ready, about to go through the door until he was interrupted by screeching.

“DIRTY HALFBREEDS, MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE, OUT!”

Lily buried herself into me in fright, and although he would never admit it, Al did the same on my right. I closed my eyes, my heart beating furiously through my chest.

Everyone held their breaths as the people on the opposite door to us stopped talking. We heard footsteps thudding closer and closer to the door. Instinctively, I pushed Al and Lily behind me, ignoring the stinging pain of my hand. I grabbed my wand out of my pocket, awkwardly having to hold it in my left hand as my right one could not hold anything.

I turned back to whisper to my siblings. “Whatever happens, just stay behind me.” They nodded their head fearfully, too scared to argue. I looked back to the door, gulping as fear took hold of my throat and threatened to close it. I needed to be strong, but how could you be when you’re still only a kid?

We watched as the handle to the door turned, slow and steady. I tensed, bracing myself for whatever may come through that door.

I was not expecting an older looking Teddy to burst through, wand pointed and at the ready.

Teddy gasped, and dropped his wand down, stumbling a few paces back.

The other man narrowed his eyes as he opened the door a bit more, letting in three other older men. “I am only going to ask one time; who are you and how did you get here?”

Teddy murmured and stuttered for a while, voice caught in his throat. As I was standing almost right behind him, I could hear him softly whisper out a “dad?”.

I gasped, fully aware of the situation. I looked back to the four men who were standing in front of us, wands up. The one on the far right looked exactly like Granddad Weasley. The one next to him resembled our current Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt. The man who had entered first looked so much like Teddy when he had his natural features, and the last man was someone I had only ever seen in a few photographs around the house, my namesake; Sirius Black.

Crap.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” The man who I presumed was Remus Lupin spoke again. Victoire looked to her husband and realised that he was not in the right state of mind to answer, and so stepped forward, wand raised above her head in a sign of surrender. The four men trained their wands to her, but she didn’t once flinch.

“My name is Victoire. This is my husband Teddy, and my cousins are behind us. Please, we mean no harm. We have no idea how we got here.”

The men narrowed their eyes, suspicious. “How can we trust you?” Sirius Black answered.

She shook her head. “Please, we do not mean any harm. The youngest here is only eleven years old.” The men looked over the crowd, realising that we were all just kids.

The men shared a look before turning to us once again. Kingsley Shacklebolt addressed us. “We shall escort you into the next room. Albus Dumbledore is there, he will determine whether you are telling the truth or not.” We all sighed in relief. “I will warn you, if you do anything to harm the occupants of the room, we will not hesitate.”

Hesitate to do what? I felt the blood drain from my face as I realised what the answer was.

Of course, stories of my parent’s time at Hogwarts always came up, especially in the newspapers, in books, even on chocolate frogs. This was a time of war, a time where many people lost their lives to fight for the freedom of all wizards, especially muggleborns. It was a dangerous time, a time we never had to experience as we were protected by our parent’s sacrifice all those years ago.

Wordlessly, we walked into the room before us. It looked just like our dining table; it was our dining table. I scanned it quickly, gulping as I saw who was here.

My eyes first went to my mother and father. I stared in shock. They were younger than me. My parents were younger than me, mum was closer in age to Al, and Dad was Al’s age. I could see the resemblance between my siblings and them, it’s easier to tell when they are the same age. I turned away from them, ignoring them so I wouldn’t become too weirded out.

When they saw us enter, the occupants of the room stood up and drew their wands. I felt sweat drip down my forehead as I had more than ten wands trained on me. I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood.

“What have we here?” Came the calm voice of Albus Dumbledore.

I had seen him in the portrait in Professor McGonagall’s office, Merlin knows I’ve been in there more than enough times. He looked exactly like the portrait, from his silver beard to his half-moon glasses that hid sparkling blue eyes. His face and voice were calm, but those eyes were hard, and I looked to see that he too had his wand trained on my family.

“These people claim they have no idea how they got into the house. They are just kids, but we all know that Death Eaters wouldn’t consider it too low to use children.” My granddad was the one who answered Dumbledore, and I bowed my head. My own granddad. Of course, he had no idea we were his grandchildren, but that didn’t stop the pain in my chest.

“Death Eaters?” I froze and felt Lily freeze behind me. She looked up at me, worried now that she had slipped and spoken. All wands were now trained on the two of us. I stepped forward in front of my siblings, silently challenging everyone.

“Please, we mean no harm.” Victoire urged. I could see she was getting desperate. “I-I think we might have time travelled.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes. “Time travelled, that’s absurd!”

Dumbledore, however, looking thoughtful. “Do you have any proof of this claim?”

Teddy, having collected himself after the shock of seeing his very much alive father, stood forward. “I give you permission to look through my memories freely.” He raised his arms over his head as Victoire had done.

Within a few long strides, Dumbledore had planted himself directly in front of Teddy, and wasted no time in putting his wand against the younger man’s head.

We stood, tense as the silence took hold. Lily was shaking like a leaf next to me, and Al had gone pale. I looked around at my cousins. Rose had grabbed Hugo and pulled him into a hug as he shook, his breath coming in spurts. _Fred_ and Roxanne were huddled together, Roxanne holding _Fred’s_ hand gently, as not to harm it. Louis and Dominique were right behind their sister, backing her up as she looked to Teddy in fright. Poor Lucy was the worst, tears spilling from her eyes as Molly held her tightly. Scorpius was to my right, standing just in front of Albus.

I licked my lips and shook my head. Guilt coursed through me. I was the one who put my family in danger.

A few more moments saw the tension grow, before Dumbledore stood back. Teddy was left panting slightly, stumbling backwards into me and bumping my injured hand. I muffled a whimper, not wanting to draw any attention to myself.

“They tell the truth.” And with that simple sentence we were plunged into more shocked silence.

“What do you mean they tell the truth?” Sirius demanded.

Dumbledore turned calmly to them. “These children are from over 25 years in the future.”

We all sighed in relief. Now that Dumbledore was on our side, no one would attack us. If there was one thing I took from Dad’s stories of the old days, it was that everyone trusted Dumbledore, and few would ever go against his word. We were safe for now.

“25 years?!” I looked over to who said that and had to hold back my gasp. However, Rose and Hugo had no such qualms, and gaped at the young woman. It was a young Hermione Weasley. At this moment she was only Hermione Granger, and had probably only just started to have feelings for Ron. “That’s impossible. You can only travel back a few hours, maybe a day at most. 25 years? That’s- that’s- illogical!” She buried her hands into her bushy hair, and I was reminded heavily of Hugo whenever he became stressed out.

“Believe me, Miss Granger, these young people are from 25 years from the future.” Dumbledore stated again, the twinkle in his eyes returning. “I promise all of you, these children mean no harm to any of us, they are not associated with Death Eaters or Voldemort.” Everyone from the past winced, and I looked on confused. In the future, we say Voldemort’s name like it was nothing. These people seemed almost afraid of the very mention of it. “I think it would be best if they introduced themselves. Do not worry about revealing any information. It is likely we will all be obliviated after this experience.” He said directly to us, a small smile on his weathered face.

Everyone turned to Teddy, who sighed and shared a look with Victoire. From where I was standing, I could see the worry and fear in his eyes. His hair slowly lost its vibrant turquoise colour and drifted to brown.

He turned back to the people from the past, not meeting their eyes. “My name is Teddy, as Victoire stated before. I am the eldest here. I am 22 years old. The people behind me are my wife’s siblings and cousins.”

“Are you a metamorphmagus?” Came a voice from the back. Teddy stiffened as he saw who spoke and I realised with dread who it was. Nymphadora Tonks, Teddy’s dead mother. “It’s just, your hair changed colour.” She muttered, obviously embarrassed at having spoken out.

“Um,” Teddy stuttered. “Yes, ma’am I am.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her, drinking in the sight of her, alive and right in front of him. I couldn’t even imagine what he must be feeling.

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you related to me? From the future?”

Teddy nodded his head numbly. “I’m- I, I’m your son.”

Everyone was once again plunged into silence, no one daring to speak. This confession changed everything. The past now knew that we were all related to them, in one way or another. I could see their faces as they looked between us, wanting to see which of us they were related to.

Tonks herself bit her lip. She had a shocked and almost scared expression on her face. But in an instance, it changed into a warm smile. “Hello Teddy.” She walked around the table, slow and steady, towards us. She reached out a hand, hesitant, and almost drew back before reaching out once more to take Teddy’s hand. I heard him suck in a breath.

There was a moment when nothing happened, and then Tonks pulled her son down into a hug, squeezing him tight. “Oh my gosh, this is so weird. I’m hugging my son who is older than me.”

Teddy laughed, a strange strangled sound. “Yeah, pretty weird.” I could see a few tears building up in his eyes.

Tonks pulled back. “So, who’s your father? Or am I not supposed to know?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Teddy smiled back, euphoria clear on his face. I knew this was the first time Teddy had ever remembered seeing his parents. “This might come as a huge shock to you, but my full name is Teddy Remus Lupin.”

A glass fell to the floor as Remus Lupin looked up in surprise. His eyes were narrowed, and his face was set. “You-you’re mine?” He choked out.

“Hi Dad.” Teddy replied softly. “Don’t worry, I’m not a werewolf.”

“He just gets a bit grumpy around full moons.” Victoire smirked. Teddy rolled his eyes.

Remus stood up suddenly, but then froze. He licked his lips, a habit that I knew Teddy had inherited. It was obvious he wanted to join the family hug but wasn’t sure if he should. He was pushed forward by Sirius. “Come on mate,” he smiled. “It’s your family.”

The older Lupin took two steps forward before wrapping his arms around the two others fiercely. I smiled sadly at the sight. Unbeknownst to the past, this was the first time the whole Lupin family had been aware of a family embrace.

“Well this is sweet and all, but come on, I need some attention now.” I rolled my eyes as Louis stepped forward, breaking the peaceful moment that had just occurred. “If we are allowed to reveal things from the future, I want to go first.”

Dominique scowled at him. “Do you ever shut your mouth?”

He smiled back at her. “Nope!” He winked and turned back to the past. “My name is Louis Weasley, youngest son of dear old daddy Bill.”

“Bill?” Grandma Weasley shook, excitement clear on her face. “My Bill?”

Louis smiled over at her. “Hello Grandma Weasley.”

Grandma Weasley squealed loudly and made her way over to Louis. Louis was subjected to the famous Molly Weasley hug. “Oh, I’ve got a grandson. I’ve got a grandson.” She turned to look behind Louis. “Are you all my grandchildren?”

Dominique laughed, “Basically.” She stood forward. “I’m Dominique, I’m Louis older sister. Victoire’s our oldest sibling. Don’t worry Dad, it’s just us three.” She added, laughing at the paleness on Uncle Bill’s face.

“I have children?” He asked, shock clear on his face. “Who’s your mother?” He asked, noticing Victoire’s bright blonde hair. Dominque’s hair was not quite red but not quite blonde, almost a strawberry blonde I guess, whereas Louis was a full red head like the rest of us.

Louis smirked, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “Like you don’t already know. Our names are all French.”

There was whistling from down the dining table, and as we turned to see who it was we all sucked in a breath. Fred Weasley was sitting at the table next to his twin, George, and shouldering his other brother Bill. I caught _Fred’s (_ future Fred) eye, staring at him with wide eyes. He simply shook his head and went back to staring at the person he was named after.

“Wow, a Veela? You managed to score a Veela?” He exclaimed, unaware of the crisis that the kids from the future were now going through. “Wow, excellent job mate.”

I saw Grandma Weasley, Auntie Hermione and my mum purse their lips. I looked on confused. I thought Auntie Fleur and all them were all good friends.

“Fleur? I’m married to Fleur?” Bill asked, a small smile on his face. “Wow, I mean, wow.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Tell me about yourselves!” He leaned forward, excited.

Victoire smiled. “Well, I’m Victoire. I’m 20 years old. When I went to Hogwarts I was in Gryffindor and was a prefect. I was Head Girl in my final year at school and played Chaser for two years on the team. I’m the eldest Weasley child and currently working at St Mungo’s. Also,” she smiled and took Teddy’s hand in her own, staring up at him lovingly. “I’m married to Teddy.”

There was whooping and hollering all around, congratulations to the couple. “Welcome to the family Victoire!” Tonks called, hugging the girl tightly. Victoire tensed slightly before relaxing into the hug, meeting her mother-in-law for the first time.

“Thank you, Tonks. But yeah, other than that, there’s not much more about me you really need to know.” She smiled lightly.

“Yeah except she’s super uptight about everything.” Victoire immediately frowned, turning to her younger brother, ready to pounce on him. “Look, just one comment gets her all riled up.”

“Sure, whatever.” Dominique pushed through her two warring siblings and smiled brightly at the past. “Hello everybody. My name is Dominique, middle child to these two idiots.” There were protests from her siblings at that comment. “I’m 18 years old, fresh out of Hogwarts. Just finished my last year this past June. I was a Hufflepuff, and proud so if I hear any comments don’t think I won’t hex you.” She continued smiling through her speech, warning the past not to mess with her. “Unlike goody-two shoes over there, I was never prefect or Head Girl, but I did play for Hufflepuff Quidditch team as a Keeper and made it to Quidditch Captain in my 6th year. Under me, we won the Quidditch cup. I’m now studying to be a Curse Breaker, just like Dad.” She smirked at him and he smiled back, hesitantly.

“A Weasley in Hufflepuff?” Inquired Grandad Weasley. “For decades we’ve all been Gryffindor’s.”

Louis laughed. “Ha, you’re going to get a shock with me. Local Slytherin, at your service.” He took a bow, but through his cocky demeanour, I could see the worry in his eyes about how his family would react.

“A Slytherin? A Weasley Slytherin?” Cried Ron. I groaned. I knew Ron at this time had some not so pleasant things to say about that house, and as always, he had no tact.

“Yes, and if you have a problem with that you can talk to me.” The words dripped from Victoire’s mouth like poison, her eyes set and challenging all those in the room. No one spoke a word. “Good. In the next 25 years huge changes happen in the British Wizarding World. No one really cares what house you’re in anymore, and house unity is at an all-time high. The only time there is really any competitiveness or hostility between houses is during Quidditch games, and even then, its all-in good fun. So, if anyone has any comments to make about my little brother, please take them up with me.”

Everyone shut their mouths after that, no one daring to say anything to disturb the eldest Weasley grandchild. I clenched my hands in worry, but then I cried out as my hands screamed in pain.

My goal to not have any attention brought to me failed as everyone whipped their heads around to look at me. I waved, sheepish, before crying out once more and cradling the hand to my chest.

“Oh dearie, what have you done to your hand?” Grandma Weasley fussed, and I could almost pretend I was back home with my Grandma Weasley. “Let me have a look, hey?” She crossed the room to me.

“ _Fred’s_ is hurt as well, Grandma.” I told her as she looked at my hand. She whipped her head up to me, confused. I realised in an instance why. “Oh, _Fred,_ he’s from the future, my cousin. Yeah, this might get confusing.” I chuckled. Grandma Weasley nodded her head as she took my hand in her hands. I winced once again.

“We need to get those hands healed as soon as possible.” Victoire stated. “Grandma, you wouldn’t happen to have any _nihil adole *****_ in this house, would you? If I could crush it up real fine, I can make a paste out of it to apply to the burns.” Grandma Weasley took off at once to search for the magical healing plant, leaving us in an awkward silence once again.

“So, what about you?” I turned sharply to Sirius, who had aimed the question at me. He stumbled with his words once he caught sight of my face. “You look like James.”

I bit my lip. “Well, that’s because I am James. James Potter, at your service.” The past gaped at me, not able to believe what I had said.

“You’re my son?” I groaned, knowing I had to face the inevitable. I turned to look at my father, Harry Potter, who was currently a full year younger than I am. As I stared at him, I could see how everyone said Al was basically his younger clone. If it weren’t for the fact Al didn’t have glasses or a scar, and that his hair was a deep brown, they could be twins. I had Dad’s jet-black hair, and his nose, and the shape of his eyes, but the colour was brown, like Mum’s. Other than that, I couldn’t really see any other similarities. For Lily, she had his green eyes, however hers were more hazel. And instead of Mum’s flaming bright red Weasley hair, hers had a darker tone to it. Through my evaluation, my younger dad was still coming to terms. “I have a son?”

“Two actually,” Al’s quiet voice commented from my right. “You have two sons and a daughter. My name’s Albus.”

Dumbledore smiled widely. “I’m touched, Harry.” The boy just nodded his head vaguely, still trying to grasp the fact that he had two sons and a daughter.

“What,” he shook his head. “I have a daughter as well?”

Lily bounced up and down. “That would be me. Lily Potter. I’m your youngest and favourite child.” She grinned cheekily.

I shoved her with my good hand. “Oh, come off it.” I turned back to my dad. “I’m your first-born, so obviously I’m your favourite.”

“Yeah right,” Al scoffed. “Everyone knows I’m his favourite.”

“Yeah, well I’m Mum’s favourite!”

“You’re not Mum’s favourite! I’m Mum’s favourite, I’m the only girl.”

“You can’t be both Mum and Dad’s favourite, that’s just cheating.”

“Alright!” Shouted, Victoire. “You know your parents don’t pick favourites. Can we stay on topic please?”

I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, I’m your oldest, James Potter. I’m 16, and I am about to enter my sixth year at Hogwarts. I’m in Gryffindor, the best house,” all the Gryffindor’s cheered, “thank you, and I am Gryffindor’s Quidditch Captain, playing Chaser. Just this last school year we won the Quidditch cup.” I smiled brightly as I finished.

“Yeah, whatever, nobody cares about you.” Lily pushed me to the side. “Besides, I’m the one who won all the games.” She turned to look at everyone from the past. “I’m Lily. I’m 13 years old, and I am about to go into my third year in Gryffindor. I joined the Quidditch team last year, where I play seeker, just like Dad, and with my help we won the Quidditch Cup.” She turned to Albus. “Your turn Al.”

He waved, a small smile on his face. “Hi, like I said before, my name’s Albus, but you can just call me Al. I just turned 15 a week ago. August 1, a day after Dad. Unlike my reckless, impulse driven siblings, I’m a Ravenclaw.” Everyone looked shocked, but not really surprised. “I play Chaser on the Quidditch team for Ravenclaw.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Dad’s (you know what, this is weird, I’m just going to call him Harry) expression. I guess it is a huge shock.

“So, who’s your mum?”

Harry looked terrified at that comment. I don’t blame him, especially when he finds out who it is. “Well,” I laughed, “these people over here are our cousins. And Grandma and Grandad Weasley are our, well, grandparents. So…”

If possible, Harry’s face paled even further. “G-Ginny?” He asked, tentative. My mum, er younger mum, turned redder than her own hair, hiding her face into her hands.

As if planned, all the Weasley boys turned their head in unison to death glare Harry.

“You mean…” Fred started.

“to say…” George continued.

“that Harry here…”

“knocked up our sister?”

“Our only sister?”

“The youngest Weasley child?”

“Alright!” Ginny shouted. She turned to her brothers, who were still giving Harry the death stare. “I don’t need you to defend me. Besides, he didn’t knock me up if we’re married!” She hesitated for a moment. “We, we are married, right?”

“Yes mum, you are married. You got married in 1999 as soon as you become of age. I was born 4 years later.” I smiled, reassuring her.

“Wait, 1999? That would mean I was 18!” Ginny cried out.

“You always told me that you loved each other so much that you didn’t want to wait any longer than you needed. Daddy proposed to you in 1998, but you had to wait until you were 18 to legally get married, even though you were basically already married before that. You told me that you knew that you didn’t want anyone other than Dad for the rest of your life.” Lily added, smiling sweetly at the tale that mum always told us when we were younger. “It was so funny, when you told everyone else that you were getting married, all the Weasley boys got together to warn Dad about getting on Mum’s bad side, because if he hurt her it wouldn’t be them coming after him, but her!”

Ginny blushed even harder, hiding her hands behind her hands once again, while Harry looked on with a slightly confused smile on his face, all those his face was also red. “I really said that? That I loved him so much?” Ginny mumbled.

Lily nodded hesitantly. “But, that doesn’t come for a long time yet.” She bit her lip and moved to stand behind me once again as everyone stared at her.

Noticing my sister’s embarrassment, Rose stepped forward, her red curls bouncing up and down, bringing Hugo with her, who had relaxed when we knew no harm would come to us. “I’m Rose Weasley. I’m 15 years old, the same age as Al. I’m going into my fifth year as well, and I am also in Ravenclaw. I play Keeper on the Quidditch team.”

Grandma Weasley came back into the room, holding the ointment for the burns on Fred and I’s hand. “And who’s child are you, my dear?” She asked, although by her smile I could tell that she already knew.

Rose laughed and clasped her hands together in front of her, a sign of nervousness. “Well, Ron’s my dad.”

Everyone turned to the Weasley boy, his face pale and his eyes terrified, but also curious. “You’re my kid?”

The girl in question rocked back and forth on her heels. “Yeah, but it’s not just me.” She pulled Hugo into everyone view, the young boy towering over his older sister. “This is my younger brother, Hugo.”

“Younger brother?” Hermione asked, a smile on her face. “I can see how he’s Ron’s son.” Which was true, he was as tall, lanky and freckly as his father, if only for his curly auburn hair you would’ve thought he’d be Ron’s clone. However, as she said this, a look of jealously came over her face. I knew instantly that she wished she was the mother. Oh, she’s in for a shock.

Hugo grinned, showing off his slightly bucked teeth. “Yeah, but you’re never going to believe who our mother is.”

“Who?” Ron asked, a terrified look in his eyes.

Rose smiled. “Hermione.”

The girl in question chocked suddenly, Ginny rubbing her back with a smirk plain on her face. “Excuse me?” She turned back to her children, her eyes wide open. “I’m sorry, when did this happen?”

“In your seventh year, I’m pretty sure.” Hermione blushed at Rose’s words.

“Oh,” she responded, rubbing her lips together and looking down at her hands. She coughed for a moment, before standing and moving out of the room. “Excuse me.”

With Hermione gone, the attention turned to Ron, whose face had gone even brighter than his hair. I felt bad for him, after all, if my kids from the future came and told me I would marry my best friend, well, I wouldn’t know what to think.

“Are we happy?” The question was barely spoken above a whisper, but in the silent room it came as a shout. Ron repeated his question. “In the future, are we happy?”

Rose smiled, “Yeah we are.”

The answer seemed to put Ron’s worries away, and although the tension in the air was still awkward, he smiled at his two children and sat back down. Rose and Hugo beamed with pride, aware that this was a huge step, considering the drama and confusion of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found this chapter really hard to write, because I have to introduce all these characters to the other characters but there are so many kids!  
> It is a little boring at the moment but I promise it'll speed up soon.  
> Hope you enjoyed it!


	3. A Call From the Distant Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The introductions are finished, stories are told and James gets an unwanted call.

“Well, while we continue introductions, who were the two young boys who needed the _nihil adole_?” Grandma Weasley asked, searching the crowd of people in the room.

I smiled at her, suddenly realising she missed our introductions. “Hello Grandma Weasley, I’m James Potter, son of Harry and Ginny Potter.”

“Ginny?” She asked, turning to her daughter in shock and awe. Then she turned to Harry and smiled. “I always did think of you as my own child.” Harry smiled back at her, and then turned to us, an unknown expression on his face. “Well, James,” she said, emphasising my name. “Who was the other boy who needed it?”

“That’s me, Grandma!” _Fred_ responded, bouncing his way up to the front, pulling Roxanne with him. “And I suppose it’s time we make our presence known. I am _Fred_ Weasley II, and this is my twin Roxanne.” She gave a small wave. _Fred_ continued. “Now, I realise we have a bit of a situation, with two Fred Weasley’s in the house.” He said this turning to the original Fred, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice and face. “So, I have the perfect solution. Simply call me Freddie! I’ll answer to that name just as easily as Fred, and we won’t get confused.”

During this, Victoire had taken the _nihil adole_ from Grandma Weasley and started crushing it up in a paste within its bowl. I held out my hand for her apply the paste to, sighing as the cooling substance hit my damaged skin.

Fred and George frowned, assessing the two teenagers in front of them. “Okay—”

“You’re either my kids—”

“Or my kids—”

“So, who’s are you?” They said, alternating.

Roxanne smiled, although I noticed it wasn’t as bright as usual. “George. You’re our dad.”

“Huh,” George started, looking between the other sets of twins. “And I named you Fred?” He asked Freddie, who suddenly found his hands very interesting. “Not that I don’t love my dearest brother here, but that seems like a strange choice.”

Freddie shrugged, holding out his hand for Victoire to apply the _nihil adole_. “Don’t know. I heard it had something to do with a bet, can’t believe Mum let you get away with it either.” He made up on the spot, biting his lip at the end.

“And your mother is…” Fred asked, looking at the twin’s darker skin tones which stood out amongst their pale cousins.

“Oh,” Roxanne smiled. “Angelina Johnson.”

The silence grew, causing the future kids to tense up slightly. Fred frowned. “I took her to the Yule Ball.”

He looked at George who just shrugged. “Maybe she thought I was the better-looking twin.”

The crisis seemed to have been averted, which set the future kids at ease. I bit my lip, massaging the _nihil adole_ paste further into my burn.

“Either way,” George shook his head, smirking slightly. “So, how many pranks have you pulled this year?”

Roxanne, grateful for the interruption, smirked back. “Honestly, I can’t even keep count,” she placed her hand on her hip and shook her dark red curly hair. “But if you want to know about our major ones, oh, about thirty this year already.” She smiled innocently, looking down at her nails. “Freddie and I are in Gryffindor, of course, and we both play Beater on the Quidditch team.”

“Hang on,” Ron interrupted, holding a finger up while looking curious. “Exactly how many of you play Quidditch?”

Freddie laughed, leaning against his sister’s shoulder. “Well, all of us have played Quidditch at school at least once, except for Teddy over there.” He pointed at the youngest Lupin, who’s face and hair blushed red. “You see, he’s terrible on a broom. All of Uncle Harry’s lesson went to waste with this kid.”

“My lessons?” Harry frowned. “Why would I be giving Teddy Quidditch lessons?”

Once again, we all froze, trying to think of an answer. Luckily, Teddy already seemed prepared for such a question. “Well, you see, you’re my godfather.”

Harry gasped, and then went slightly pink, turning to Remus and Tonks with a grateful expression. “Thank you.” He said softly, smiling.

Tonks rolled her eyes. “Well, thank you for trying to give him Quidditch lessons, even though it obviously didn’t work out.” Everyone laughed and us future kids were, once again, saved from revealing the depressing news.

“But yeah,” Freddie continued slowly, making sure he didn’t slip up again. “We all played expect Teddy, oh and also Molly, and Lucy is only just starting at Hogwarts this September, but she’ll probably play Chaser, won’t you Luce?” The young girl in question nodded her head, a proud smile on her face.

“Lucy?” Grandma Weasley asked, staring at the young girl. She then noticed the other girl Freddie had mentioned. “Molly?” She smiled. “Are you named after me?” She asked tentatively.

Molly nodded, finally bringing herself and Lucy to the front. “Yes, Grandma. I’m Molly Weasley II. I just graduated out of Hogwarts, a Hufflepuff. I was prefect and then also Head Girl. Like Freddie said, I don’t play Quidditch.” She brought forward her sister. “And this is Lucy.”

The young girl waved. “Hi,” she began, smiling widely. “I’m Lucy Weasley. I’m eleven years old and I’m starting Hogwarts this September. I don’t know yet what house I’ll be in, although everyone reckons I’ll be a Slytherin.”

The past was slightly shocked at the young girl’s statement. “You think you’ll be Slytherin?” Grandma Weasley asked, her smile tight.

“Yep,” Lucy said, her smile turning a little crooked. “They won’t tell you, but I’m actually the mastermind for all of Freddie, Roxanne, Louis and Jamie’s pranks.”

“That’s not true!” The four of us announced at once.

My face went red. “And don’t call me Jamie!”

Al turned to me and the others, a wince on his face. “Well, I mean, most of your good ones always seem to have a little Lucy flair to them.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please, Lucy may be a little devilish, but she only joins in on the fun. I’m the mastermind.”

“Oh please—”

“It’s obviously us—”

“I mean, who do you think we are?”

“We’re George Weasley’s children—”

“Of course, we were the masterminds behind the pranks.” The twins smiled, alternating as they so often do.

Louis watched on with amusement, only turning to the people of the past and winking.

“Anyway, if we can get back to me?” Lucy smiled pushing her way to the front again. “So, yes, maybe I do enjoy a little prank every once in a while.”

Molly looked around at the adults and Weasley children nervously, placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Our father is Percy Weasley.”

Once again, the room went into silence. I supposed we just had that effect on people, although the amount of times it had happened just today was ridiculous. Or should I say, _Riddikulus._

“Percy?” Grandad Weasley looked at us, hopeful, while the rest of his family only screwed their nose up in shame. “So, does he come back?”

Molly smiled sadly. She probably knew a lot more about what happened with Uncle Percy than the rest of us did, about his anger and shame for himself from staying away from his family for so long. “It took him a while to come to his senses, as he says. He often says at times he was too late. He doesn’t think you should’ve really forgiven him, but all of you opened your arms to him as soon as he came home. We never miss a Weasley gathering, and although he tries to hide it, I know he visits you almost every week if he can.” She said, looking down the whole time. “He still carries the shame to this day.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested what she had said. Even I couldn’t believe he still thought that about himself. And to think, the Weasley family is closer than ever know, even with the added numbers.

“So, is that all of you then?” Grandma Weasley smiled, looking to all of us children.

“All except for one.” A voice behind me drawled. Scorpius. I wince, knowing his introduction is gonna be the worst of all. It seems he knows this as well, if the tinge of fear in his eyes is anything to off of. To be fair, though, I would be too. Even in our own time the Weasley and Potter adults had a hard time getting used to Scorpius, especially with how much he looks like his dad. “I’m Scorpius Malfoy.

“Malfoy?” Harry asked, incredulous. “What’s a Malfoy doing with you lot?”

Ron nodded, a scowl on his face. “Yeah, how’d the slimy Slytherin end up here?”

“Excuse me,” Louis said, raising an eyebrow at my younger uncle (still weird). “But I’m a slimy Slytherin so back off.”

Al nodded, agreeing with Louis. “And anyway,” he started, pulling Scorpius so he was now between himself and Rose. “Scorpius is my best mate and he’s a Ravenclaw too. A lot has changed.” His voice was desperate, hoping our father would understand. I shook my head. Al always wanted Dad’s approval for everything. The first day he sent home a letter saying he was friends with a Malfoy, he was almost shaking while holding the quill. Luckily in our time it was a better reaction.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Malfoy is basically part of the family.” Under my breath I whispered, “and probably will be family soon.” Rose elbowed me in the gut, causing me to curse out.

Grandad Weasley nodded his head slowly, still obviously in shock. “Well, any friend of my grandchildren is a friend of mine.” He smiled slightly, although still tense. Scorpius smiled back, grateful. In the future, Scorpius and Grandad actually got along fairly well, bonding over their mutual interest in Muggles. I know, a Malfoy interested in Muggles. It came as a shock to everyone.

“Okay, we’re not actually gonna believe this right?” Sirius asked, his face set in a frown. “He’s a Malfoy, they were raised to be muggle, muggleborn and blood traitor hating scum.”

Rose narrowed her eyes, her face going red. “I’m sorry, Sirius BLACK! Weren’t you raised to be a muggle, muggleborn and blood traitor hating scum as well? I guess we should be throwing you out of the family as well then?” Sirius slumped back in his chair, not happy but unwilling to go against the wrath of someone with Ron and Hermione’s temper. “Good.” She turned to the rest of the family; her eyes set in determination. “Scorpius is my best friend as well. Anyone who has anything to say about him can tell it to me instead. I’ll be sure to pass on the message.” Everyone nodded, too scared to say anything otherwise.

“Well, as I was saying,” Scorpius continued shyly. “I’m a Ravenclaw, as Al said. Going into fifth year, same as Al and Rose and Louis. And yeah, I’m Draco Malfoy’s only child. My mum’s Astoria Greengrass. I’m a Seeker on the Ravenclaw team.” He stepped back at that point, his ears turning pink. The future people, unsure of how to handle the situation, just nodded slowly.

Albus Dumbledore, who had taken a backseat to allow the introductions to take place, now made his presence known once again by coughing. “Well, this has certainly been eventful.” He smiled, his blue eyes twinkling in the light. “But I believe we have serious business to attend to.” He now stood up and levelled a stare at Teddy. “How is it that you travelled so far back in time? I honestly have never heard of something like this happening.”

At this, the whole future Weasley family turned to level a glare at me, Freddie, Roxanne and Louis, though they mainly just glared at me. I sighed, knowing I was going to be in big trouble. “I had heard mum and dad talking about this thing in the attic. Something potentially dangerous. In hindsight it was a stupid plan,” I mumbled, crossing my arms. “But I was interested, and I honestly didn’t think there would be anything super bad in the attic. We’d lived in this house my whole life and while Dad always said, ‘Never go in the attic’ I assumed it was sort of safe still.” I shrugged, not willing to look up to see anyone. “So, I convinced Freddie, Roxanne and Louis to follow me up there. When we got there, Freddie and I found two amulets that seemed to be two parts of one amulet. Amidst the confusion when everyone else came into the attic, the two amulets joined together, and I assumed threw us all into the past.” I held up my hand and showed where the skin had blistered away. “It burnt Freddie’s and my hand. Other than that, I don’t really know how we got here.”

“An amulet?” Dumbledore pondered, twirling his beard, which was a funny sight and would have made me laugh if not for the serious situation. “In the attic of this house?”

I nodded, “Uh, yes sir.”

He hummed, thinking to himself for a minute. “So, this amulet would likely be in the attic right now?”

“Uh,” I thought back to the moment we had arrived in the past. “Well, I think I dropped my piece when we landed here, so even if the present version of that amulet isn’t in the attic yet, I’m sure our version of it would be.” I turned to Freddie who nodded that his piece, too, had come with him to the past. “So…” And then everyone was looking at me. I looked confused for a while before I realised what they wanted me to do. “No way! Last time I touched that amulet it nearly burnt my hand off. I’m not picking it up again.” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest.

Dumbledore smiled. “Yes, it seems it might be too much for the young ones to handle. Do not worry, Kingsley and myself will go retrieve the two amulets. Just a moment, thank you.” And with that, him and Kingsley left the room and walked down the hallway and out of sight.

“Well,” Mrs Weasley started, ushering us younger kids into the dining hall. “Sit down, sit down.” She waved her wand slightly and the room grew along with the table, with extra chairs being added to fit us. “You kids must be exhausted—” she was interrupted by Hugo’s stomach, which growled loudly. He turned red as the rest of us laughed. “And hungry too, yes. Good thing it is almost dinner time!”

As I went to sit down, I noticed that Mrs Weasley had specifically placed the chairs in a position so that we would be sitting next to our parents. I groaned on the inside but walked on and took my place next to Ginny and Lily, who sat next to Harry, who in turn was next to Albus, so that the five of us were in a single line. Sitting across from us were George, Freddie, Roxanne and Fred (in that order) with Bill and his children beside them (sitting Bill, Dominique, Louis and Victoire). Victoire was beside Teddy of course, whose parents sat on the side of the table next to him. Beside Remus was Sirius and then two spare seats and on the side beside that was a spare seat and then Hugo, Ron and Rose, who sat next to me. Beside Albus, on the end of the table, sat Scorpius, Molly, Lucy and Grandma and Grandad Weasley. All in all, there were 26 of us.

To my left, Ginny started talking to me. “So, Quidditch captain, right?”

I nodded hesitantly. “Uh, yeah. Chaser, after you of course.”

“Me?” She blinked. “I don’t really play Quidditch.” She admitted, to my horror. “I mean, I sometimes play on my brothers’ brooms but, I don’t play for school or anything.”

I stared at her, my mouth open, probably looking extremely unattractive. “The star Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies doesn’t really play Quidditch?” I exclaimed, which caused most other people at the table to turn to me.

“What’s this about the Holyhead Harpies?” George asked with a piece of meat hanging out of his mouth, causing Grandma Weasley to smack him over the head. “Ow, sorry mum.”

“Um,” I looked to my siblings for help, but they just shrugged. “Well, Mum played for the Holyhead Harpies for about four years or so. When I was born she turned to be the senior sports editor for _The Daily Prophet._ ”

There was whooping and cheering around the table, all congratulating Ginny on her future achievement. She simply sat in shock. “I was a Holyhead Harpy?” She asked, excitement in her eyes.

“You sure were.” Lily exclaimed on Ginny’s left. “And you did play for school eventually. In your fifth year I believe?” With nods from Al and I, she continued. “Oh, it’s a lovely story! One day, Dad got detention on the day of the final Quidditch match, and so you had to step in and play Seeker. And Gryffindor won the cup! And then Dad came back from his detention and saw you and kissed you right there! It was your first kiss together!” She told the table. Lily tended to be quite a romantic, from all her time following Victoire as a young girl. She loved all the stories Mum would tell us of her and Dad’s relationship.

I laughed, though, at how red Harry and Ginny had gone at the story. The girls around the table were smiling at the story (and some of the boys. Come on, can’t guys like romantic stories too?) But the Weasley boys all had slight frowns on their face, especially Ron, who was now glaring at Harry.

“Yes,” Ginny murmured, placing her head into her hands. “I guess that is a lovely story.”

“Well, it has nothing on my Mum and Dad’s story.” Rose smirked from beside me. She winked and I had to choke down a laugh. “Imagine this, it’s in the middle of the final battle against Voldemort. Curses are flying left, right and centre. When suddenly, Dad expressing his concern for the house-elves, wanting to help them escape. Mum, who had a passion for improving the lives of house-elves, kissed him suddenly, right in the middle of battle and right in front of Uncle Harry, who remarked that there was a war going on at the moment.” She laughed with the others at the mortified face of Ron, who had choked on his potatoes at the story.

The laughing died down, however, when Rose noticed Hermione standing at the door of the dining table, having come back in after she had stormed out at Rose and Hugo’s introductions.

Ron and Hermione stared at each other from across the room, their cheeks bright red. Hermione then looked to the floor, crossing the room and sitting next to Hugo, purposefully not looking at Ron who sat on the other side of their son.

At that moment, which I’m sure Ron and Hermione were grateful for (although to be honest, all of us were), Kingsley and Dumbledore made their way back into the room, carefully levitating the amulets above them. “Here they are!” Dumbledore announced, and then summoned a container for his piece of the amulet and another container for Kingsley’s. “Unfortunately, I have never seen such a device in my life before. But don’t worry, I’ll take to studying them carefully to figure out how to get you children home.” He smiled warmly at us, and I suddenly felt relieved that Dumbledore was on the case.

But the relief was soon overtaken by dread when my pocket started vibrating. “Uh oh.” I whispered, staring down into my pocket in fear.

“What’s that?” Ron asked, his mouth full of potatoes again.

“It’s my phone,” I answered, gingerly taking it out of my pocket and seeing Mum’s ID come up. “And it’s Mum.”

Al and Lily had a terrified look in their eye, and the same could be said for every kid from the future. Everyone in the past however looked on in confusion.

“That’s a really advanced model of the phone!” Hermione exclaimed, looking down the table in astonishment.

“Yup,” I nodded, pressing my lips together. “And it’s gonna bring me my doom.

Teddy narrowed his eyes. “Well, answer it James Potter!” He ordered, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow.

I winced and hesitantly swiped, answering the call and putting the phone to my ear. “Hello.”

“James? Hello, have you and the other kids gone out? I tried to ring Teddy, but his phone must of ran out of battery. Really, you lot should know better than to go out without telling us. There’s a reason you have a phone you know.” She chastised gently, although I could detect the tone of worry in her voice.

“Um, I think it’s better if I put you on speaker for a second.” I said, grimacing as I pressed the button for speaker phone.

“Teddy, dear. Mind explaining what’s going on?” Ginny froze at the sound of her own voice. She turned to me, mouthing ‘Is that me?’ I simply nodded.

Teddy took in a deep breath, and Victoire reached over to grab his hand, calming him. “Hi, Ginny. First of all, I promise we are safe and currently handling the situation. Second, please don’t freak out too badly.”

“You’re making me worried,” Mum said. “Just tell me where you are.”

I mumbled, “More like ‘when’ we are.”

“What was that, James?” She snapped.

“Ginny,” Teddy continued, sending a glare my way. “Ginny, we’ve accidentally travelled back in time.”

There was silence on the other side of the phone for a few moments, before a feint voice from the other side said, “What is it, love?” Harry paled as he recognised it as his voice coming from the phone.

“Teddy now is not the time for pranks. You should know better than this. Where are you guys?” She pushed, panic rising in her voice.

Teddy shook his head, clenching his fist around Victoire’s. “It’s not a prank. We’re in 1995, in Grimauld Place just before your fourth year.”

There was more silence before a sudden string of curses (which caused Molly to cover Lucy ears) and then the sound of the phone dropping. From the phone shouting could be heard.

“Ginny, calm down. What did they say?”

“They’re in 1995, Harry! You know what happens in 1995! They could be killed!”

“They’re with Dumbledore then, I’m sure he and the Order will protect them.”

“Fat lot the Order and Dumbledore did to protect you in 1995!”

“Ginny, Ginny, calm down. I’ll take over.”

I slumped further down in my chair, running a hand over my face. “Oh no.”

The phone crackled as it was picked up, and Dad’s voice came through the receiver. “I know this has your name all over it, James Potter. Tell me what happened.”

I gulped as I leaned forward to answer. “So, you know that dangerous artefact you were telling Mum about this morning?”

Dad sighed. “James, you didn’t.”

“I thought it was safe!”

“If it was in the attic it obviously wasn’t safe! I told you to never go in there!”

“That was when we were kids, Dad!” I yelled, trying to defend myself.

“You’re still kids!” He yelled back, ending the argument. “James,” he continued, worry clear in his tone. “I know you like pranks, I know you like adventure. I know you think you can beat the world, but this is one thing that you took too far.” My face burned as I was scolded in front of everyone. “Is Teddy there?”

Teddy leaned forward. “Hi, Harry.”

“What have you told them?” He asked, no room for argument.

Teddy pursed his lips together. “Our names, our parents and a few other details. Nothing too major. Dumbledore said they were likely to be obliviated after this whole thing is done, you know, due to the laws of time travel this all happened before, right?”

“I can’t remember this ever happening, but I suppose you’re right. But still, be careful what you reveal.” Dad sighed. “I’ll have the Unspeakables tell me all they might know about this. What have you got on your end?”

“Mr Potter,” Dumbledore said. “We’ve located the artefact and I was just about to take it to my office for study.”

It took Dad a while to answer, most likely in shock at hearing his dead headmaster and mentor speak to him. “Um, thanks, Dumbledore. Hopefully this mess gets sorted out. James,” I poked my head out of where it had been laying on my arms. “You’re grounded until school starts. No broom, no map, no owls, nothing.”

“Dad—”

“No buts either, James Sirius! I love your pranks, I really do, but you have to learn not to go too far with it. Now I’m placing Teddy and Victoire in charge, obviously. Be careful you guys, 1995 wasn’t the best year for Potters.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, glancing at the phone in confusion. “Wasn’t the best year for us?”

Dad sucked in a breath. “Hello, this is weird, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Harry breathed. “It kind of is. Probably the weirdest thing to happen to me.”

The phone crackled once again as Dad chuckled. “Oh, you haven’t seen the half of it.” He sighed, again. He seemed to have done that a lot lately. “Alright, stay safe. I’ll keep in touch. No doubt your own parents will ring you at some point tonight. I’ll let them know what happened. I can’t promise anything when it comes to them freaking out.” And then the phone clicked, signalling the end of the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! (PLEASE READ)  
> First thing I want to address is that I believe the Cursed Child book to not be canon, as it goes directly against lore already established in the original seven Harry Potter books. Therefore, the children's ages, personalities and houses are completely different and how I imagine the Weasley-Potter-Granger family to be like. Also, time travel in the Cursed Child does not follow canon at all. Although slightly stretched, the time travel I'm using in my story does match what JK Rowling established in the Prisoner of Azkaban which means that I'm not going to have the children defeat Voldemort in this story or anything.   
> Second of all, please just keep going through these boring chapters so we can get to the action.   
> Thanks again for reading this story, it means a lot. Please leave a comment or review so I can know if you guys like it or not!


	4. Late Night Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James can't sleep and goes down to the kitchen where he meets someone.

I’ve got to say, it’s really weird living in your house when it’s actually just not your house. Every inch of the place lay in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs, and every now and then a few spiders crawled across the floor, to the horror of Ron and Rose. Of course, in our time every room of the house could be occupied (which was especially useful when the whole Weasley family came over for a weekend) but in this time many of the rooms were still filled to the brim with dark magic and general rubbish. The house had really fallen in ruin, and I wondered how long it took Mum and Dad to clean it out before living in it.

And so, unfortunately, the rooms came to be extremely tight that night. Rose, Lily and Lucy slept with Ginny and Hermione on the first floor. Grandma Weasley had placed mattresses on the floor that really just formed to be one huge bed across the space between the two twin beds in the room.

It seemed that everyone didn’t trust me to room with the Weasley Twins; no idea why, of course, we would have been just darlings together. But regardless of how I felt about it, Freddie, Louis and I got put into Harry and Ron’s room, where Grandma Weasley did the same thing to the mattresses as in the girls’ room.

That left Scorpius, Albus and Hugo in the Twin’s room, where there had only been one bed anyway, Fred and George sharing a King sized one. And so, the bed got pushed to one side and mattresses were once again placed on the floor.

The older girls (Molly, Dominique and Roxanne) were lucky, they got a whole room to themselves. I suggested that maybe they should have to share a room with Teddy and Victoire, but the latter simply glared me down. And so, the three girls shared the King-sized bed on the same floor as Ron and Harry’s, and mine too, I guess.

And Teddy and Victoire got an entire room just to themselves. Just because they’re married…

The rest of dinner had dragged along quite boringly after the phone call. Dumbledore had gone out to floo back to his office to study the amulet while Kinglsey, Tonks, Remus and Bill went home. The only people left in Grimauld Place was the past Weasley family, the future Weasley family, Hermione, Harry and Sirius.

Just as Mrs Weasley was sending us off to bed, however, Teddy and Victoire grabbed us (the future kids) and took us into the living room.

“Okay, some rules,” Teddy started. “Even though Dumbledore says that they will all be obliviated after this, we need to be careful what we talk about with them.” He took a deep breath in. “So, deaths are out of the question. If the topic comes up, somehow find a way to change the topic. We don’t want to bring heartache with us.” We all nodded solemnly, Freddie fidgeting next to me as he had almost revealed it before at dinner.

“Second,” he continued. “Voldemort is still around in this time. If he finds out about us, he’s definitely going to want us. So, just, be careful.”

This suddenly dawned on me. In the future, almost no one was scared or even worried about the chance of Voldemort ever coming back. But here, 1995…

“I’m sure not only Dumbledore but also our parents back home are extremely busy working on getting us home. So, don’t worry. Just enjoy the time here.” Teddy smiled. “Get to know those who we have lost.”

“And James,” Victoire crossed her arms and stared me down. “No pranks.”

“What?” I exploded, staring back at her. “Does anyone else remember that it wasn’t just me who went up to the attic?”

Freddie, Roxanne and Louis turned to me with a betrayed expression. “Woah, James,” Freddie said. “Not cool, man.”

Victoire simply shook her head. “James, you were the instigator. You planned this. So, no pranks. Besides, I’m just carrying over Uncle Harry’s punishment.”

“Vickie,” I started. “Please –”

“No, James.”

I crossed my arms as my face went red, my cousins laughing like the traitors they were. I would figure out a way to plan a prank so that it wouldn’t come back to me.

And then we went on our way.

That night however… Let’s just say it’s really awkward sharing a room with your younger father and uncle.

“So,” Harry started, looking between Freddie, Louis and I. “You’re all in the same year at Hogwarts then?” He asked, cringing at the small talk type question.

Luckily, Louis had this innate ability to convert all small talk into fascinatingly interesting conversation. He plopped down onto Harry’s bed with him and placed a hand on his cheek. “Well, I’m actually in the same year as Rose, Scor and Al, but I’m the same age as the twins.” He flashed a brilliant white smile that I swear once blinded a lady. “Jamie here is the oldest of us. He’s seventeen this year while we’re only sixteen.”

“Only Lily calls me that,” I added, annoyed, before nodding along. “Yeah, it’s quite amazing how all our mums seemed to have kids at the same time. Except for poor Lucy of course, although she’s not that much younger than Hugo and Lily.”

Freddie laughed, “Yep, and from what I heard, it was basically chaos at all times in any Weasley Household, even today really.

Harry only stared at me before speaking. “Lily.” He said, testing the name on his lips. “Your sister. You’re named after my…”

“Parents.” I finished, smiling slightly. “Yep. My full name’s actually James Sirius Potter, after James Potter and Sirius Black of course. Poor McGonagall didn’t know what hit her when I came to school.” I said, winking.

“James Sirius.” He said, in that same tone as before. He smiled after a moment. “It’s got a nice ring to it actually.”

I shrugged, leaning back onto Ron’s bed, who shoved me off when I laid on his legs. “I think it’s nice, obviously.”

The room fell into uneasy silence again, until Mrs Weasley knocked on the door and told us to “Get in bed boys! Tomorrow’s gonna be another busy day of cleaning.”

“Cleaning?” Freddie asked, his eyebrows furrowing together as he turned to Ron and Harry.

Ron simply groaned, falling back onto his bed in defeat. “This blasted house is gonna kill us one day.”

“We’ve been cleaning the rooms of the house because, well…” Harry started, wincing. “It’s not the cleanest house.”

This really made me wonder how on earth Mum and Dad had cleaned the house enough for us to live in it. Maybe the Weasley’s cleaned the house this summer. “This is my house actually.” Is all I said. “We live here. You must have cleaned it up pretty good now.”

“Huh.”

And then we all went to sleep. Well, they went to sleep.

Okay, I hate to admit it, but the house creeped me out. There was a portrait of a man who stared at me while I laid still on the bed, a portrait that had definitely been removed as I had never remembered seeing it in my life. Although, it did look slightly familiar. For some reason, though I could probably guess why, all the doorhandles in the house were in the shape of snakes, which let me tell you, did not feel right when turning the doorknob. But probably most of all, the house just didn’t feel like home, not one bit. It didn’t have the lively, joyful feeling it has in the future, rather every single step must be calculated and most of the rooms were not to be stepped into. The house reeked of sadness, anger and dark magic.

The clock on the wall told me the time had reached the next day, well past midnight, and I still hadn’t gotten to sleep. I figured there was no hope for me.

Freddie and Louis lay sleeping on the mattresses with me, while Harry and Ron slept soundly on the beds raised above us. Carefully, I detangled myself from the sheets and quietly stepped out of the room, as not to wake them.

The house at night scared me more than anything. Sure, whenever I snuck out of my room there was always a tinge of tension and apprehension, but my heart beat incredibly hard against my chest as I made my way down the hallways.

I really had no plan as what I was to do once I’d escaped the room, but I eventually decided to head down to the kitchens to see if I could make myself a midnight snack.

On my way there, however, I was stopped by a familiar face.

“Dirty half-blood, what are you doing in this house?” I spun around in fright, my heart definitely feeling as though it would explode. I looked down to see a house-elf, could it be…

“Kreacher?” I asked, unbelieving.

The old house-elf narrowed his eyes. “How do you know of Kreacher?”

“You were our house-elf.” I replied, still staring in shock. “You died three years ago.”

Kreacher had been our house-elf for as long as I remembered. From what I could piece together, Kreacher had been left to my dad after Sirius died, and Dad had kept him around when he and Mum moved in. Kreacher remained quite loyal, but because of his old age we never had him do housework.

“You’re those time travellers.” He sneered, walking past me. “What a terrible future it must be.” And then he was gone, disappeared into one of the many rooms. I stood still for a moment longer before continuing down the hallway and then down the stairs all the way to the basement where the kitchen was.

The kitchen lay in a layer of dirt and grime, and I felt bad for Mrs Weasley who had to try and make a decent meal in such a disgusting place. The basement was cold and the kitchen no less uninviting. I suddenly regretted coming down only in the spare PJ’s of Ron. However, perhaps the strangest thing about this room was the single person already in it.

“Hello, James.” Sirius Black greeted me.

Although we had spoken briefly during this evening’s introductions, I didn’t have much time to truly take in the sight of my namesake and my father’s godfather (does that make him my grand godfather?). His dark hair reached his shoulders, tangled and mattered, as if he hadn’t washed it in years. I had seen photos of Sirius around the house, but he looked older than any of those photos. His eyes were light but heavy, hiding back deep sorrow and grief. It was hard to imagine the joking, prankster boy that I had heard him to be.

After a moment of me just staring at him, I realised I eventually had to greet him back. “Oh, hello.” I said, cringing slightly.

He only laughed; a half laugh that really was just a short breath exhaled through the nose. He smiled, though, which I figured was an accomplishment. “What are you doing out of bed? I’m sure Mrs Weasley would be far from pleased.” He said, taking a sip out of the tea he held in his hands.

I crossed the kitchen floor, pouring myself a cup of tea and leaning against the counter with him. “Umm,” I started, shrugging. “Well, I live here, if you didn’t know.” He raised his eyebrows but said nothing. “And, well. It looks totally different in my time.”

“Really?” He asked, thoughtful. “So, I give the house to Harry then. And what, does it finally get cleaned up?”

“More like completely rebuilt.” I answered, taking a look around the room. “For one thing, all the Slytherin décor gets torn down, replaced by whites and greys and purples. It’s a lot cleaner,” I laughed, running my hand over the counter and bringing up a layer of dust. “And, well, it’s just more of a house.”

Sirius hummed. “I think I would have liked it then, in the future.”

I nodded, before my brain caught up with his words and I turned to him in fright. “Umm, yes, you- you do like it in the future, uh, very much.”

He laughed, almost a full one this time, his yellow teeth shining in the dim light. “You can’t fool me, James. I know I don’t make it. I could read your reactions enough to see that you barely know who I am.”

My mouth went dry, and I racked my brain for a solution, an answer, a lie to put this whole thing aside. “Uhhh, I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“James, please.” He stopped me, holding up a hand. “I thought you’d be better at lying, being a prankster and all.” He said, smirking at me.

I shrugged. “It’s usually Louis who does the talking.” A moment passed as I thought through the situation. It was only the first night and I had already broken the first rule. There was no way of hiding it now. “You’re right.”

He nodded, silent and waiting for me to continue.

“I don’t know you,” I continued. “Not in the future. I’ve seen your pictures around the house and Dad is always telling stories of your time at Hogwarts with his dad, and McGonagall always says what a headache we are as we seem to mimic the Marauders quite well…” I trailed off.

I looked over at him. He seemed resigned to his fate, as though he had already accepted his death. “It’s nice to know I was remembered for something else other than Azkaban.” He said, finally.

“You can’t tell anyone!” I blurted, wincing back at my own outburst. “Please,” I added, smiling sheepishly. “If my cousins knew I told you I’d be in huge trouble. And please don’t tell anyone in the present either, they wouldn’t handle it very well.” I thought back to the times Dad had stared sadly at a photo of Sirius, his eyes betraying the guilt and grief.

“Of course,” He nodded, understanding how bad the repercussions would be. “How,” he stopped, before continuing. “How do I die?”

I sighed, dropping my head into my arms and raking my hands through my hair. “You’re not really supposed to know that, Sirius.” I hoped to everything that he would drop the subject.

“Dumbledore said we’d be forgetting anyway,” He replied instead, turning fully to face me. “I need to know.”

I weighed my options for a while, before deciding that it really couldn’t hurt. “You die in battle.” I said simply, trying hard to keep emotion out of my voice and off of my face. “Bellatrix threw the curse, but you fell through what we call the Veil, a one-way ticket straight to land of the dead. Really, the truest way to die in my opinion. Just falling into the other realm.” I glanced up to see how he took the information. Once again, he seemed only resigned, as if he already knew that was how he was going to die. “And, you didn’t die a free man. I’m sorry.” At this, however, his façade broke and his face betrayed the disappointment built up inside him.

“So, nobody knows, huh?” He asked, holding a fist over his mouth. “The world still thinks I’m the traitor?”

“No.” I state firmly, staring into the tea that was slowly becoming cold. “Dad made sure of that. The war ended and basically Dad, Aunt Mione and Uncle Ron rebuilt the Wizarding World from the ground up. Along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, our Minister for Magic and a few others, they made sure every single person received a fair trial. You received a pardon posthumously.” He nodded, not happy with the ending but accepting, nonetheless. “Pettigrew goes down as a dirty traitor.”

The cold settled deeper into my skin and I pulled my arms around myself. Sirius didn’t seem affected, although whether that was from living in this house for so long or from his focus on my words, I’d never know.

“Good.” He says finally. “I could rest in peace knowing that traitor got what he deserved.”

We stood in silence for a while longer, finished our drinks and washing them in the sink. It was nice, weird but nice. I’d never known this man in my life but if I had, maybe I would have gotten along with him.

The clock on the wall showed that if my mother were here, she would have absolutely lost it at how late I was awake (early I was awake? Time is subjective).

I still didn’t feel tired but went back into my room and laid down anyway, being careful not to wake the other boys. Although, maybe I could prank them, just a little…

But then I remembered Victoire’s warning. No pranks. I sighed, ridding my brain of all the awesome prank ideas that were swirling around. Besides, I had actually started to feel a little tired. Maybe if I just sat really, really still I would fall asleep…

_My hand burned and burned and burned, red hot flames trailing upwards towards my mind. I screamed as I flew around in circles, upside down, every which way._

_This lasted far too long, but the next thing I knew, I landed hard onto the floor of a hallway, decorated quite similarly to the hallway in the Grimauld Place of the past._

_I heard voices; scared, tense voices coming from a large room. I knew the room lay just beyond the door I had stopped in front of. I went to turn the door handle, but something stopped me, the sound of a high-pitched, evil laugh. The laugh sent shivers down my spine. I knew that whatever made that sound had to have been the evillest thing in the world._

_“Harry Potter has been a thorn in my side for fourteen years. This could finally give me the answer to his demise.”_

_I heard the laugh once again and gasped audibly. The high-pitched laughter was followed by more laughter, this time timid and hesitant, although a few of the laughs were just as evil as the first one. Whatever was happening in there, I wanted no part of it._

_A chill went up my spine as I felt something cold touch my leg. My heart beat furiously in my chest as I braved to look down and…_

“Kids! Wake up!” I jumped awake, a hand on my chest as I breathed heavily. I groaned at the sound of my Grandma yelling, wondering when I had even fallen asleep. I blinked my eyes open while rubbing my sore back. Why was it sore? Why was I on the ground?

In a bed beside me, a ginger haired boy moaned. “Mum, just a few more minutes!”

Mum?

Oh.

We’re in the past.

My breathing evened out slowly, Louis and Freddie coming out of sleep. On another bed, a black-haired boy sat up, rubbing his eyes and grabbing the glasses from the bed-side table.

“Boys, time for breakfast! Better hurry or there’ll be none left!” A familiar voice, Teddy.

I thought back to the dream I had been having, wondering why I had woken up so scared, but it was slipping through the cracks of my mind, fading away. My heart still beat in my chest.

Freddie looked at me curiously. “You ‘right, mate?”

I cocked my head, but eventually nodded. “Yeah, rough night,” I shrugged. “Just… uh… I don’t know. Must just be all of this time travel stuff.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! Sorry for the wait, unlike literally every other country in the world Australia still hasn't closed the schools and it's exam week so I've been busy.   
> But here it is! Finally (FINALLY) getting into some good stuff.   
> Hope you enjoy!  
> Also, in regards to COVID-19, I hope everyone is staying safe and staying inside as much as possible!


	5. Snape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more calls, cleaning the house, and a visit from Severus Snape

Breakfast was busy. Grandma Weasley ran back and forth from the kitchen to the dining area, bringing in all sorts of delicious food. “Well,” she said, a smile on her face. “We need a good breakfast before getting into today’s chores!”

Chores. In summer. We’re doing chores on our summer break.

Hermione assured us it wouldn’t be too much work, but the hesitant look on her face claimed otherwise. That, and the grimaces on Harry and the Weasley children’s faces.

And so, I sat at the table shifting the egg around my plate. 

Then a phone went off, shocking all of us out of our early morning stupor. Freddie looked almost deathly terrified, staring down into his pocket with horror. I immediately knew what was coming on and begged to anyone who was listening that it wouldn’t be too bad.

It seemed everyone else had come to the same conclusion, shifting in apprehension in their chairs. Roxanne rolled her eyes and grabbed the phone out of her brother’s pocket, breathing in deeply for a moment before answering, “Hi, it’s Roxie.”

I couldn’t quite hear what was said on the other side of the phone, only that I knew it was Aunt Angelina’s voice from the tone. Roxanne grimaced, locking eyes with her brother as she sat through the scolding, looking down back to her hand which was tapping on the table. “Yeah, I know…” she answered when there seemed to be a break in the talking. She sat through another moment as everyone in the dining room watched her. “Fred’s here.”

Freddie looked murderously at his sister as she held the phone out for him. He took it begrudgingly, also taking a deep breath before answering, “Hi, mum.”

The voice seemed to grow in volume, Freddie wincing away from the speaker. I managed to catch a few words, “… reckless… you should know better… know how much trouble… so much stress on your father…” Freddie grew red and he closed his eyes. I knew as well as he did the repercussions of this, especially for Uncle George.

George Weasley had never fully recovered from losing his twin brother, I don’t think anyone ever could, but he was dealing with it and living his life with his wife and children. But, now that we’ve gone back in time, it must be ripping him apart to know that we’re in a time where the Weasley Twins were still together. To know that he was so close to his brother but still so far away.

“We’re okay, mum.” Freddie interrupted my thoughts. “We’re safe at Grimauld Place.”

There were a few more words from Aunt Angelina before Freddie passed the phone to Roxanne who said her own goodbyes to her mum. “Say hi to Dad and tell him we’re sorry.” She said, not daring to look up to see any of the reactions of the people from the past. Fred and George shared a look, one that I couldn’t understand but wish I could to predict what the conversation might turn to. “Okay, bye mum. Love you.” Roxanne hung up the phone and handed it back to Freddie, who pocketed it and then immediately went back to his breakfast, ignoring the silence that surrounded the dining table. I put my head back down to stare at my food and noticed that all the others from the future did the same.

George, however, didn’t let it go. “That—” he paused, staring intently at Freddie and Roxanne. “Was that your mum? Angelina?”

“Yeah, it was,” Roxanne replied, pushing the egg around her plate, refusing to look up. “She just called to ask how we were, tell us we were in trouble and told us to not get into anymore trouble. You know, the usual.” She chanced a small smile at that, looking up at George with a hint of anxiety.

He only looked back at her, with a face that seemed way too serious for him. “Right, and why would you say sorry to me?”

Freddie jumped in to save Roxanne, giving everyone a mischievous grin (fake, of course, but that doesn’t matter). “Well, daddy dearest,” he started, winking at Ron who looked very much uncomfortable at the exchange. “You’ve gotten a bit soft in your old age. Worried for us out of your mind, most likely.”

“What?” George shouted indignantly while his twin laughed, along with Ron and Ginny. “I would never go soft, thank you very much.”

Roxanne smirked, “On the contrary, I have you wrapped around my finger.” She schooled her features into more of an innocent smile. “I’d never do anything wrong; don’t you believe me dad?” She finished the act by batting her eyelids and smiling wider.

George grew red in the face as the rest of the table laughed, already forgetting about the call they just witnessed. I breathed a sigh of relief, even as George began muttering to himself, “gone soft, psh. I’d never go soft.”

Hermione, however, refused to let the conversation go. “So,” she started, nervous. “Should we be expecting any other calls?” I couldn’t quite tell what she was nervous about, but there was a pretty good chance she didn’t want to be in the room when Rose and Hugo got the call.

The others who had yet to receive a call (namely Rose, Hugo, Scorpius, Lucy, Molly, Dominque and Louis) paled, looking fearful at the idea that they might be scolded in front of everyone. I smirked a little, at least my own experience had already happened and gone.

Almost as if on cue, Molly’s own cell phone rung. She didn’t seem to hesitate as the rest of us had; she just took the phone out of her pocket and calmly answered, “Hello, this is Molly.”

I wasn’t able to understand the person on the other side as I had with Aunt Angelina. However, I knew it was Percy on the phone by the low speaking tone coming through. Molly smiled slightly, completely calm and collected which I found offensive. How was she so calm with everything that was happening? Sure, I had come to accept our situation, but it still sent shocks through my brain whenever I turned to look at Harry and Ginny, or Hermione and Ron, or any of the children from the past. Having finished her conversation, Molly passed the phone down the dining table to Lucy who was sat next to Hugo and Lily. She took the phone with a bit of apprehension, but immediately relaxed upon hearing her father’s voice.

Everyone tried to pretend they weren’t listening into the conversation, eating their breakfast as if this was any other normal day. I turned to Al to talk about the latest Quidditch scores, a sore excuse of a talk in my opinion.

“Okay, love you daddy!” Lucy hung up the phone and handed it back to Molly, either unaware of the stares or just ignoring them.

Grandma Weasley in particular held a stern face turned towards Molly. “Dears,” the two sisters turned to her. “That was Percy, wasn’t it?”

Across from me Ron scowled, stabbing his fork into the sausage in front of him. The Weasley Twins stopped their joking, simply sitting still which was a strange sight to witness. Ginny turned bright red and took to stabbing her food just as her brother had. And Grandad Weasley… he just looked sad, resigned almost. I looked back down at my plate, now almost empty. When did things change? How did things change? Why did Percy leave the family in the first place?

Molly only smiled, albeit sadly. “Yeah, that was dad. Mum works closely with the Department of Mysteries so I assume she’s helping with the situation and couldn’t make it to the phone.” I hated how sombre the table had become, so I cracked a joke in Fred and George’s direction to break the tension.

Okay, so the Twins and Molly and Lucy had had their calls, and obviously my own parents called the night before. I wondered at what point the rest of the parents were going to call in.

“What’s the plan for today?” Hermione asked, very matter of fact. “You know, other than cleaning.”

Grandma Weasley bustled about the kitchen, bumping into Grandad Weasley as he excused himself from the table. “Oh, well…” He scratched his head, where it had already started to bald. “Nothing much then. I think a few Order members might be stopping by to give progress reports but other than that…” He frowned as Mrs Weasley shoved a tea towel into his hand, confusion on his face. Shrugging, he threw the towel over his shoulder and continued out the door. “See you children later!” And then, presumably, he was off to work.

My plate was entirely empty now, so I pushed it away and leant back in my chair, taking in the sights of the people around me.

In particular I looked to Sirius. He looked normal (although, I couldn’t exactly tell you what normal is for Sirius, having never met him before now) but there was a strangeness in his eyes. My heart thudded painfully, and I instantly wished I hadn’t said anything last night.

“Oh,” Grandma Weasley came back in. “Has anyone seen my towel?”

Soon enough, everyone had finished with their breakfast and we were off to one of the various rooms around the house.

I didn’t think cleaning would be this much work but oh was it.

Ron had said that they’d already cleaned up most of the house, but if this is what the house looked like at ‘mostly clean’, I wanted to know what it looked like at ‘messy’.

We started in an office type room, with a window that’s curtain was permanently closed off. In the present (future? My time) the office had been turned into a guest bedroom for when the family stayed over, with a double bed, a wardrobe and a desk. Now, however…

Louis’ eyes widened as he entered the room. “What vomited in here?” he asked as he placed his hand over his nose, desperate to not breathe in.

And yep, the place smelled like vomit.

There was a large desk underneath the window, but it was covered by so much mess that you could hardly tell if you weren’t looking close enough. There was a wardrobe on the left to the door, with a layer of dirt so thick I could hardly tell what colour it was supposed to be, just that it had patterns on it that were probably very beautiful. The carpet, too, was covered in a layer of filth, and also some small rock like spheres.

“Ewww!” Lucy shouted, holding onto her nose as well. “What is that?”

Lucy, Louis, Rose and I had been joined together as the group to tackle this particular room. Can you believe they chose Rose as the ‘supervision’? I’m almost two years older than her and she’s the supervision!

… Alright, to be fair Lucy, Louis and I haven’t had the best track record when it comes to being together alone.

Rose, to her credit, didn’t seem as disturbed by the smell. “It looks to me like some creatures have been in here leaving their mark.”

Lucy’s mouth opened wide as Louis and I burst out laughing. “And we’re meant to clean this up?” Lucy asked, indignant.

I smirked. “Well, the creature sure isn’t going to come clean it up. Actually, where is this creature? Maybe it can leave us a few more gifts.”

My youngest cousin simply crossed her arms, a scowl growing on her face. “You’re an arse, James.”

“Don’t let Victoire or Molly hear you saying that,” Louis smirked as Rose rolled her eyes and raised her wand to clean the floor.

A few hours in, after we’d moved to another room that was empty if you didn’t count the piles of potion cauldrons stacked up in a rather precarious way, Rose’s own phone rang.

Her faced paled considerably, and I wondered which of her parents were going to be worse. I snickered, catching Louis’ eye as Rose glared at us, still holding the ringing phone in her hand. “Well, Rosie,” I said, swinging my arm around her shoulder. “You better answer that.”

“Actually,” she said. “I need to get my brother.” She looked at the phone with contempt, and then glared at us before answering. “Hello.”

And then she set off down the hall, determined to take the call in a somewhat private place. We didn’t let her though. We raced after her, which was a feat as Rose was quite fast as she bounded down the stairs. Louis winked at me before sliding down the railing, and on his way down he grabbed the phone out of Rose’s hand, then landed on the first floor and cheerfully started, “Hello Aunt Hermione!”

“Louis! Come back here at once!” Rose raced faster down the stairs, missing Louis by a few hairs as he ran away from her. Lucy giggled behind me, a little out of breath as we both finally came to the end of the stairs.

We came to the room where Hugo, Hermione, Ginny, Victoire and Freddie were, cleaning out another study that somehow looked worse than the one we had to clean out earlier. Louis continued on the phone. “You know, Aunt Hermione, I just missed you that’s all. How are things going in the future? Also, when are my own parents going to ring?” He said all this while running circles in the room, Rose following him at a close distance. Victoire immediately turned towards me, demanding, “What did you do?”

“Me?” I asked, laughing hard at the scene in front of me. “Why do you think I had anything to do with it?”

Rose came to a stop beside me, panting. “No, it’s Mum on the phone.” She stopped to breathe in. “And then Louis… he took the phone.” She resumed the chase while we looked on in amusement.

Well, not everyone.

“It’s me on the phone?” Hermione raised a hand to her face. “Oh, I’m going to faint.”

Hugo, who stood next to his younger mother but seemed as though he would rather be anywhere other than next to her, frowned in alarm before stepping in front of Louis. “I want to talk to Mum.” He said, his face blushing rather brilliantly. “You know, my Mum.”

Hermione seemed to look a bit offended at the last comment, crossing her arms and looking away from everyone.

Louis, not entirely heartless, relented and gave Hugo the phone. “Have fun,” he said, before coming over to give Freddie and I a high-five.

“Nice one, mate,” Freddie told him.

“Hi.” Hugo started on the phone. “I’m all good, we’re cleaning out the first-floor study, you know, the room that becomes Rose and Roxanne’s bedroom.”

Rose, having stopped chasing Louis and now stood beside her brother, looked around the room as if just now realising that it was the room she usually stays in.

“No, we’re not getting into trouble.” He sighed, long-suffering. He waited a few more moments before bringing the phone away from his ear. “She’s all yours, Rosie.”

Both Hermione and Rose blushed at this, I assume because Hermione realised how overbearing she is as a parent, and Rose always goes red at the nickname. “Thanks, Hugo,” she said, not looking very thankful.

Just as she went to answer the phone, her face tightened and went pale. “Oh, hey dad.”

I laughed a little out loud. I wouldn’t ever want to choose between Aunt Hermione or Uncle Ron in this situation, and it seemed Rose might be getting both evils. “I wish the others were here,” I commented to Freddie and Louis.

“Me too,” Lucy added, smiling as Hermione turned even redder at the word ‘dad’.

“Yes, yes…” Rose muttered, and I could just hear Uncle Ron’s voice through the phone mention the name Scorpius. “Oh my gosh, dad! We’re just friends!” Louis, Freddie, Lucy and I burst out laughing, Hugo covering his face so his grin wouldn’t show through. Rose glared at us. “Nothing is going on, okay?” She mumbled into the phone, still glaring at us. “Alright, we’ll call you when something happens. I love you too.”

Rose sighed as she hung up the phone. “Ugh! I wish mum never made us get phones.”

Hugo kicked his feet along the ground, his hands in his pockets. “You can’t deny it wasn’t nice talking to them,” he said sheepishly, looking up at us nervously. I nodded at him, not wanting to make him self-conscious, but I also agreed with him. As much as we were complaining about our parents calling us, it was nice to hear their voices again when everything around us seemed so crazy.

“Yes,” Rose replied, smiling at her brother. “Yes, it was nice to talk to them.”

Victoire huffed, “Yes, very nice, but could you four please go back to your own room?” She gestured around her, “We still have work to do and I know you do too!”

At that very moment, almost comically, a shrill voice screeched out, “HALF-BLOOD! FOUL HALF-BLOOD IN MY HOUSE, HELPING THE ENEMY!”

I realised that I had forgotten last night, amidst everything else that was happening, the loud screeching that occurred when we reached the dining room. “What is that?” I asked, looking to Hermione and Ginny.

Ginny scowled, and Hermione looked none too pleased as well. “It’s Mrs Black,” Hermione answered. “Sirius’ mother. She left a portrait here and we can’t get rid of it.”

“So,” Lucy asked, hiding behind Freddie as the portrait continued to scream. “What does it mean when she screams?”

Ron walked into the room, his arms crossed and a wicked frown on his face. “It’s Snape.”

…

Severus Snape was everything I expected him to be and also nothing like I expected him to be at the same time.

It’s no secret I spent ample time in Professor McGonagall’s office; along with Freddie and Louis of course (Roxanne was always smart enough never to get caught and McGonagall couldn’t ever pin her to the crime). I’d memorised every aspect of the office, which included a portrait of Professor Severus Snape who became Headmaster after Dumbledore died during the war. I’d heard mixed reviews about the man; some said he was a hero, others a villain. All I knew is that for all his heroics, he was still a jerk.

It’s also no secret that the man hated my grandfather and also hated my own father, and therefore hated me also. I knew with my jet-black hair and brown eyes that I probably looked even more like James Potter Senior than dad did, it also didn’t help that my name was also James Potter. Every time I visited the office, he wasted no time in insulting me. He started with the state of my hair, “always completely chaotic” he’d say, “just like your father and grandfather. You’re in trouble again, Mr Potter?” I’d respond with some none too polite sentiments about how much shampoo he used to get his hair so greasy, and he’d scowl as Professor McGonagall told us kindly to “please stop blathering on”.

So, yeah. Severus Snape and I didn’t get on at the best of times. But this… this was so much worse.

“Three more Potters and a dozen more Weasley’s,” he sneered, obviously already briefed on the situation, most likely by Dumbledore. He glanced over to Teddy, who was trying his best not to frown. “And a Lupin. How fortunate we are.”

Dumbledore only smiled at us and gestured for us to sit down. “I assume you all know Professor Snape?” His eyes twinkled gleefully, as if he found the whole situation just so funny. “Please, please sit. We have some things to discuss.” He took a seat at the head of the table and waited as we all did the same; everyone who had been staying at the house and Snape. He smiled again, “Well, some introductions are in order, don’t you think?”

I sighed and would have groaned if Victoire didn’t send me the most venom filled glare I’d ever seen (that’s a lie, she had nothing on Mum). Teddy nodded, “I’ll start, I guess.” He stared nervously at Snape, who was still leering in his direction. “I’m Teddy Lupin. I’m Remus and Tonks’ son.” If Snape looked surprised at the pair, he didn’t show it, only turned his attention to Victoire who was holding Teddy’s hand.

“And I’m Victoire Weasley.” She answered in response to his unvoiced question. “Bill’s eldest daughter. These are my siblings.”

She gestured to the two of them who waved. “I’m Dominique.”

“And I’m Louis.”

This line of conversation (if you could even call it that) continued for a while until it landed to me. I tried to put on my most mischievous smirk before answering, “James Potter, at your service.” My cousins and siblings all sighed as they knew what would happen next. The Snape in the future disliked me, not to an enormous extent but obvious enough. But the stories that Hermione, Ron, Harry, any of the Weasley children told showed that in this time Snape _hated_ Harry Potter. Just my luck, but I wasn’t going down without some sort of a fight.

Snape’s scowl deepened, glancing towards Harry before back at me. “And so, the line continues. Tell me, does the arrogance really run in the family?”

I watched as Harry’s fist clenched tightly, my own doing the same. “Well,” I started. “I can’t say I’m not arrogant sometimes, but I’m really learning to manage it. You’re doing wonders for the Potter line in the future, sir.” My smirked widened. “Keeping us in check, making sure we’re reminded how terrible we are. That kind of thing.”

“I should have had a word with your father that naming you after that stupid, spoiled little—”

Harry stood up. “Don’t talk about my father that way!”

“I always knew the fame would go straight to your head, Potter!” Snape growled back.

I realised straight away that what I meant to be a little friendly argument turned deadly really quickly. I underestimated the hate my dad and Snape had for each other. But then, if Harry hated Snape so much why did he name Albus –

“Albus Severus Potter!” To everyone’s shock, including my own, my brother had stood up, glaring at Snape with the most hatred I had ever seen in his eyes. “My name is Albus Severus Potter. But why my father would name me after some stuck-up, hatred-filled bully goes far beyond my own comprehension!” And then he stormed off, out the door of the dining room. I heard his stomps on the staircase before they became too faint to make out. The whole table stared at the door in astonishment. I looked back to Snape, who's glare had turned more to confusion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!  
> Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter, I was just staring at a black page for so long because I had no idea how to start.  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, I personally think it's pretty entertaining.  
> Thanks for reading


	6. Black Lives Matter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ  
> I know most of you are probably expecting a real chapter. There is still one in the works, don't worry, but there are more important things to focus on right now. I want to use the voice I have on this platform to spread awareness and support. I'm white, so I can not even begin to imagine the difficulties faced by POC everyday. I understand that I will never understand, but I stand. If I've gotten anything wrong in this fic please let me know. I want to be supportive and if something in here is offensive please tell me so that I can fix it. I've done my best to make sure this comes off as polite and hopefully informative as well as sharing what I think the characters would be thinking during this time. 
> 
> For context, if it matters, this occurs at the end of May just before the summer where the normal story takes place in, as I've set this story in August 2020. I hope you gain something from this story and take it upon yourself to do something about the situation happening right now. 
> 
> Black Lives Matter.

“Freddie, come here!” Fred turned, seeing James bound towards him at lightening speed. “You have to see what I just did to Professor Wylum!” The older boy panted in between bursts of laughter. “It’s gold!”

Roxanne appeared seemingly out of nowhere, as she usually does, a stern expression on her face. “James, what did Professor Wylum ever do to you?”

“No, Roxie,” James continued, pulling both Fred and Roxanne down the stairs they were just heading to. “You’ll love this one, I know you will.”

Freddie pulled his arm free of James’ grip but followed him, nonetheless. They quickly descended the stairs before turning into the hallway where their next class was… and also a huge crowd of people.

They shuffled together in the hallway, laughing and giggling, and those few short people who were unfortunate to be at the back and had to ride on their friends shoulders to see. Fred couldn’t make out what was happening over the crowd but could hear Professor Wylum’s deep voice call out above all the noise “James Potter!”

James smirked and winked to Roxie and Fred. “Gotta run, catch ya later.” And he was off back up the stairs and then disappeared into a classroom.

“James Potter!” The crowd parted and Fred caught a glimpse of Professor Wylum, or, what he suspected was Professor Wylum. The usually brown hair on top of his head had been dyed bright pink, with glitter and love hearts falling from it like a waterfall. As the Professor ran after James, he left a trail of pink behind him which stuck to students’ clothes who had been close to him. Fred saw a small red head down the crowd with a smirk on her face and had no doubt that Lily Potter had something to do with the prank. 

Roxanne snickered, pulling off a particularly large love heart that managed to cling to the bottom of her robe. “I gotta admit, it’s got a certain class about it.” She handed the heart to Fred. “How do you reckon he did it?”

Fred took the heart in his hands, feeling like he’d seen it before. But where would he have…

“The cheat!” Fred exclaimed, waving the heart back in Roxanne’s face. “This is Dad’s new line of 3D makeovers!” The young boy looked and saw a prefect telling off the crowd for blocking the hallway. He rolled his eyes and stuck the love heart on the back of the boy’s robe. “How did he manage to get this? I haven’t even been able to convince Dad to let me have them.”

Roxanne caught up with him, walking with her twin to their next class, Charms. “He’s the Boy-Who-Lives’ son. One of Dad’s new employees must have been charmed by his dark black hair and striking brown eyes.” She faked swooned and fall over onto Fred, who promptly shoved her off and into the road of a Ravenclaw student who gave them the stink eye.

“Watch where you’re going, stupid!” Roxanne stopped laughing immediately, turning to face the Ravenclaw student face on.

Fred pulled up behind her. “What did you say?” He asked, taking a step forward.

“Woah, chill out.” The girl said, backing away slowly. “No need to get so aggressive!”

Roxanne frowned. “He wasn’t being aggressive.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Please, you’re always aggressive.” And then she moved on, walking over the trail of pink glitter still on the ground.

Roxanne pulled at his shirt, urging him to “come on” but he could only stare at the back of the girl’s robe as he left the hallway with a bad taste in his mouth.

…

“Have you seen this?”

The Quibbler slammed into his face and then down onto the sandwich on his plate. Fred frowned before peeling it off the bread and looking at the front page, which featured a photograph of the infamous Wrackspurt being caught on camera for the second time in a decade. Fred laughed. “Glad Luna’s made some progress in her field!”

Rose frowned. “No, Fred. Turn the page.”

He turned the page which featured a moving picture of a man lying down behind a police car, with a police officer kneeling on his neck. Fred felt his heart sink. “What’s this?”

“George Floyd.” Rose answered, sitting down across from him as Roxanne looked over his shoulder at the picture. “He died a few minutes after this video. People are saying the police officer killed him.”

Roxanne took the paper from Fred’s hands, but he didn’t react at all. In place of the paper he only saw his own hands, which were the same colour as the man on the paper. “Why, though?” Roxanne asked. “Why did the police officer have – I mean- why was this happening?”

“George was believed to have written a bad check, and the police were called. The officer was in that position for over eight minutes.”

Fred finally found his voice. “Eight minutes?”

“Yeah, and now, well.” Rose stumbled over her words, something she never does. She stared at the paper that Roxanne had placed on the table, unable to look at anymore. “It happened in Minneapolis, America. There are huge protests going on now… they’ve been going on for about four days now. It’s spread nation-wide and now there’s talk of protests happening here in London.”

Roxanne lifted her head. “Protests? Over his death?”

Rose nodded. “Well, they started out as over his death, but now they’ve turned into justice for all black people who have been killed by police, and now it’s grown into a Black Lives Matter movement.”

Fred felt cold, as if the warmth of the summer soon approaching was stripped away from him suddenly. He stared at the picture of George Floyd, eyes not daring to move from his face as he called out with limited breath for his own life. “That’s… I mean I can’t imagine…”

But Fred could imagine. He could imagine something like that happening. And worst of all, he could imagine something like this happening to himself.

Fred and Roxanne were the twin children of George Weasley and Angelina Johnson, the only children their parents had. Their hair had slight red tones, from their father and the Weasley side of the family, but their skin was dark like their mothers. And even in the Wizarding World, where most prejudice went towards muggleborns and muggles (though not so much anymore, thankfully) Fred and Roxanne still experienced racism from various people around school, in Diagon Alley and especially when they went out into the muggle world. Fred recalled just this morning when, if he wasn't mistake, he was called aggressive just for standing up for his sister. Or maybe he was overthinking it, but the look in the girl's eye just seemed... wrong. 

Roxanne finally sat down next to Fred, close enough that he could hear her breathing. “You said…” She started, almost unsure of herself. “You said protests in London?”

Rose smiled slightly, despite the situation. “Sunday, Trafalgar Square.”

…

Fred stood in the street, a hastily made poster clutched tightly in his hands, made from spare cardboard and markers. Easily over a thousand people stood around him, with similarly made posters in their own hands, some with ones so big it reached over multiple people. Roxanne stood beside him, an identical poster to his held at her side as she looked out over the protestors. Behind him was his parents, who held no sign but placed a hand over his and Roxanne’s shoulders.

Beside his family was the Potter family, Lily sitting upon James’ shoulders with a beautifully made sign that showcased two hands intertwined over a drawing of the world. She raised it high above her head.

Rose and Hugo and their parents were on Fred’s other side, Rose holding hands with Roxanne as they slowly walked together. Rose also held no sign but did have a backpack slung across her shoulders with possibly everything they would need for the day.

The rest of Fred’s family trailed behind them, Molly and Lucy together alone as their parents couldn’t make it, and Victoire and Teddy walking behind Dominque and Louis as Fleur watched in the background. Even Scorpius was hanging by Al’s side, looking slightly out of place but still there and that’s all that mattered.

Fred held his sign closer to his own body, even as everyone around him raised their own high into the sky. He stared down at the words he had written on the sign; “I can’t breathe”, the words spoken by George Floyd as he took his last breath. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to face his mum.

“Freddie.” She said and opened her arms. Fred took a small step forward and leant into the embrace. “It’s okay to be scared, I’m scared too,” she murmured into his ear. “But we can’t let our fear silence us.” She let go and took his sign into her own hands, raising it up so that Fred’s hand went with it above his head. “Hold it high.”

Fred turned around again and saw as the crowd started to slowly move forward, one step at a time. He followed them, still holding the sign above his head as they started chanting:

“BLACK LIVES MATTER! BLACK LIVES MATTER! BLACK LIVES MATTER!”


	7. Library Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Albus talk about legacy

“Albus Severus?” Harry asked, blinking his eyes. “Why the bloody hell would I name him Albus Severus?”

All eyes turned to me, all asking the exact same question (except those from the future, but even they didn’t know the real reason Al was named… that). I instead looked straight at Snape himself, who had turned to glare at Dumbledore. I almost laughed; how ironic was it that Al’s two namesakes were the cause of all this controversy?

Snape must’ve somehow sensed me staring at him and turned to me with a glare that could silence even the rowdiest kids. “What do you know?” He sneered, drawing out his question in a low tone.

I sat in silence still, before turning to Teddy. He was the only other person other than Al who knew the answer to that question. Teddy only raised his eyebrow. I hate when he does that.

“I know enough,” I answered finally, looking back at Snape and Dumbledore. “Al knows more, Dad told him exactly why he was named that, even if most of us don’t really agree. You could never convince Dad otherwise, though.” I remembered the tense conversation just a few months ago I had with my dad after returning home for Christmas after an argument with Snape’s portrait turned ugly. It was then that he told me most of the truth. “I know what you’re doing even now. I know why you’re doing it.” This somehow made Snape even angrier, and he stormed away from the table and out past the door to leave the house. Everyone turned back to me after they heard the front door slam close. “I’m…” I started, my tongue feeling heavy in my mouth. “I’m going to check on Al.”

This house, even in its dirtied and cluttered state, was still my home. I knew every inch of this place like the back of my hand. I had spent years searching out hiding spots and secret tunnels. I had also grown up with Al in this house, and it was only for that reason that I knew exactly where to find him.

The library was a safe haven of sorts, for my siblings and I and my parents at times. But for Al it held an especially special place in his hearts. The Ravenclaw nerd in him jumped at the opportunity for research and knowledge and by the time he’d gone to Hogwarts Al had read every single book in the library. As a Christmas present in his first year, Mum and Dad had gotten around forty new books for Al to read whenever he was back home. Me personally? I went for the quidditch books that Mum and Dad had collected from their years playing.

Nonetheless, I followed where I knew the library to be and stopped in front of the door that was open just slightly a jar. I could hear soft sniffles and grimaced. My brother didn’t often cry; it was Lily who I usually had to comfort, her strong emotions manifesting as tears and shouts.

I opened the door and immediately noticed the difference from this time to ours. The shelves had layers upon layers of dirt and grime and dust. The books were in a similar state and had names such as _The Dark Arts: Hidden Potential in Outcasted Magic_ and _Muggles and Mudbloods, the danger to all Wizarding Society_. I’m glad these books were thrown out by the time we were growing up.

The light was dim, and the dust clung onto my clothes as I entered, calling out softly, “Al?” The sniffles stopped almost immediately, and I heard a small gasp from the left, behind the last bookshelf. I sighed and followed the sound, rounding the corner and sitting across from the balled-up figure.

He didn’t look up or even look like he noticed that I was here. His breathing came in small spurts and although he tried his best to silence them, he couldn’t stop the sniffles as they came back.

“Snape’s a jerk,” I said, looking down at my hands. “Granted he’s a heroic jerk but he’s a jerk just the same.”

Al finally looked up at me, his eyes red and mouth turned down in a frown. “Why do I have to deal with this? He could’ve picked thousands of names and he picked those two?”

“Hey,” I said, gesturing to myself. “Look who you’re talking to? I know I often joke about it, but I’m named after two people who everyone regards with awe or, in Snape’s case, disgust.” He deflated a little and chose to look at one of the books, scowling when the title read _Why Blood Supremacy Matters._ “I’ll admit it’s not as bad as you have it, but we can either let it control us or make a name for ourselves.”

He sighs and crosses his arms over his body. “And Snape isn’t even that bad in the future,” at catching my incredulous look he backs up, “well, not to me anyway. I actually looked up to him just a little bit, despite some of his mistakes.” Al shook his head as if trying to get rid of the thoughts inside. “But here? He’s just so… so…”

“Unpleasant?” I smile. He laughs and I smile even wider. That’s all I could hope for. My pranks, my jokes, everything I do I try to elicit a smile or a laugh from someone. My job’s done. “Do you want to go back out or stay here for a while?”

He looks down and frowns again. “I caused quite a scene, didn’t I?”

“What can you expect with both Mum and Dad’s tempers?” I shrugged. “I was going to say something anyway. You just beat me to the punch.” I noticed that he still seemed upset, so I came up with a better idea to cheer him up. “Okay, challenge time. Whoever finds the weirdest book title in this library wins?”

………….

After an hour of finding book titles, and even a whole game of trying to find the weirdest sentence in the multiple books, Lily entered the library with her eyes red, not yet crying but very close.

“I came to find you, everyone is worried now and looking all over,” she sniffed a few times, and rubbed her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. Even in summer Lily always gets cold, but the jumper she must have borrowed from either Ginny or Hermione almost swallowed her up.

Albus came from the back of the library, took one look at Lily and ran to her. “I’m okay Lily, I was just—”

“Infuriated?” I interrupted, smirking as they turned to me. “Don’t worry Lily. This is the Potter family we’re talking about.” She smiled but continued to rub at her eyes. Frowning, I turned to the door of the library. “Everyone is looking?”

Lily shrugged, turning to look at the door too. “Well, after the whole…” she paused, unable to find a word. “…thing, Snape and Dumbledore left to be at Hogwarts, having to talk in private or something like that.”

“I know why,” Albus mumbled, but I smacked him and shook my head, knowing Lily wasn’t to know yet.

She sighed and continued. “Well, they went off to do their thing, so we, everyone who was left I mean, kind of sat in silence for a while. We’d kind of hoped that you guys would come back.” At this, she levelled us a glare. “But you didn’t, so eventually we went to go find you guys. Of course, I knew exactly where to find you,” she smirked, “but I knew you guys had to talk, so I guided people away from the library until I figured you’d had enough time to sort things out.”

I smiled at her before ruffling her hair, to her annoyance. “Thanks, Lils.”

“But next time I’m not going to be so generous,” she turned away, her arms crossed. “So, consider yourselves lucky.”

As she stalked away from us, Albus turned to me. “I’m going to have to explain myself, won’t I?”

I shook my head, “Not if you don’t want to. I can tell everyone to back off.”

“Thanks,” he said, walking out of the library after Lily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys,  
> Sorry for the long hiatus. To be completely honest I just haven't felt like writing much. However, I'm determined to finish this story for you guys, and then I'm going to take a long break from writing.   
> To all of you who have left encouraging and uplifting messages, thank you. To all of you who have stayed and continued to read, thank you. I really appreciate it.   
> I know this chapter is short, and filler. But I promise the next chapter will have more plot.   
> Thank you very much   
> Customary Create


End file.
